Siva Rajaraman, then 30, was due to be released from Tapah prison on March 20, 2017, after eight months in detention.
On the same day, however, his family members were informed that he had died in custody and his body has been taken to Tapah hospital.
The family also discovered that all five toes on Siva's left foot had been amputated and there were other visible injuries on his left leg.
It has now been close to 33-months and Siva's mother, Muniammah Raman, 59, said she is still in the dark over the cause of her son's death as no inquest was called despite orders by an Ipoh High Court judge.
Muniammah, accompanied by three of her eight remaining children, was in Kuala Lumpur today to meet with lawyer M Visvanathan, who called for a press conference and highlighted their demand for answers.
Visvanathan, who is also the chairperson for anti-death in custody NGO Edict, said Muniammah first applied to the High Court in Ipoh on Sept 3, 2018, to order the public prosecutor to hand-over evidence on Siva's death as well as an inquest into his death.
"On Oct 18, 2018, judge Hashim Hamzah ordered the public prosecutor to provide the applicant with copies of evidence pertaining to Siva's death.
"These include post-mortem reports, analysis reports, police reports, witness statements, photos, sketch plans, CCTV recordings," said Visvanathan who represented Muniammah in her application.
He said despite Justice Hashim's orders for the documents to be provided within a reasonable time, it was only on May 30 this year that a deputy public prosecutor in the case wrote to Tapah police and requested for Siva's sudden death report.
Subsequently, Visvanathan said Perak prosecutions director Azhar Mokhtar had on June 28 and July 31 informed the applicant that they are still waiting for Siva's post-mortem report and the completed sudden death report.
"The Criminal Procedure Code, in section 333(2), states that an inquest must proceed 'as soon as may be'.
"Yet, 33 months later, no inquest has been held," he said.
Visvanathan added that Edict has given parties, including Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, de facto Law Minister VK Liew and Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, 30 days to respond to questions raised in Muniammah's case.
He said Dzulkefly should answer for Tapah's hospital alleged failure to provide the public prosecutor with Siva's post-mortem report; Liew for the coroner's alleged failure to comply with Justice Hashim's order for an inquest; and Muhyiddin for police's alleged failure or complete the sudden death report.
Malaysiakini has contacted and is awaiting the response from an aide to Liew as well as Perak police chief Razarudin Husain. - Mkini
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