Suaram: Another death has occured in custody

Human rights group Suaram said it was informed of yet another death in custody case, this time in Malacca.

Suaram executive director D Sevan said the victim was 34-year-old K Partiban, whose family was informed of his death at 9am today.

Partiban was detained at the Malacca Tengah district police headquarters.

"According to his wife, the doctor said Partiban did not have a pulse when police brought him in last night and he required cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)," he said in a statement.

Partiban, who sells chickens, was detained by police in Subang Jaya on March 22 and later taken to Malacca for further investigation.

He was detained under the Prevention of Crime Act (Poca). His 60-day detention was to have ended today.

A postmortem on Partiban will be conducted later today.

When contacted, Sevan drew attention to a Court of Appeal decision today which upheld RM357,500 award to the family of lorry driver P Chandran, who died in the custody of the Dang Wangi district police station in 2012.

The ruling upheld a 2015 landmark decision where the Coroner's Court ruled police had acted negligently in not sending Chandran to the hospital and allowing him to have medicine for his health issues.

"With this case as an important reference, the health of a detainee is clearly the full responsibility of the police or the investigating officer.

"Death in custody needs to be stopped. We demand immediate suspension of the investigating officer and the officer in charge of the police station.

"Its a crime against humanity and the 'human rights' of detainees," said Sevan. -Mkini