GEORGE TOWN, July 14 — Penang has set up a taskforce to seek answers on deaths in police custody.

State executive councillors Dr Afif Bahardin and Jagdeep Singh Deo will be in the three-men committee with Penang Deputy Chief Minister II Prof P. Ramasamy chairing it.

“Enough is enough, the police can’t go on pretending that the custodial deaths are dying of strange diseases. This is a crusade against death in custody to prevent more of such cases from happening,” Ramasamy said in a press conference at Komtar today.

The decision to set up the taskforce was made by the state executive councillor about three weeks ago.

To date, Ramasamy said there have been six custodial deaths in Penang in the first half of this year.

“This means an average of one custodial death each month and something must be done. We hope there won’t be any cases this month,” he said.

“It seems the police and the Health Ministry are working hand in hand in these cases because they often come up with some diseases when there was a custodial death,” he added.

Ramasamy said that these custodial deaths were shrouded in mysterious circumstances, especially those cases where there were bruises on the body.

“In a recent case, S. Agin Raj Naidu was a healthy 26-year-old before he was arrested and put in the Bandar Perda, Bukit Mertajam lock-up and before we know it, he was sent to the Bukit Mertajam Hospital and died on June 7,” he said.

The purpose of the taskforce is to monitor these cases, to take them up and to engage lawyers to fight them on behalf of the families, he added.

He clarified that he was not blaming the entire police force but the few black sheep within it.

“However, there doesn’t seem to be any action taken on these cases and the police seem more interested to investigate national opposition leaders,” he added.

The taskforce will also be inviting non-governmental organisations such as Suaram to participate in its deliberations.

“We will also engage with the police since this involves them,” he said.

Jagdeep, who was also present, pointed out that Section 334 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Act 593) provides that an inquiry may be held into the cause of death when a person dies in police custody.

“The law is clear, so we want answers as to why no action was taken for these six deaths,” he said.

Agin Raj was the sixth custodial death in Penang this year.

In comparison, there were a total of 13 reported custodial deaths nationwide last year and nine in 2012.

On February 10, A. Punniyanathan, 40, died while in custody at the Nibong Tebal lock-up here.

A few weeks later, Ramasamy Nagu, 50, died at the Bayan Baru lock-up on March 1.

Just a week after that, on March 8, Kamarulnizam Ismail, 39, died in Tapah Prison just a day after he was taken there from the Bukit Mertajam lock-up.

On April 13, M. Murugan, 37, died at the Seberang Jaya Hospital after being detained at the Seberang Prai Tengah district police headquarters.

On April 27, Rahmat Md Noor, 56, who was detained at the Bayan Baru centralised lockup died on April 27 while being rushed to the Penang Hospital.