PETALING JAYA, Jan 20 — The Enforcement Authority Integrity Commission (EAIC) should be given prosecutorial powers given their extensive work in cases of custodial deaths, a group has said.

The Bar Council’s Taskforce on Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) said such a move would ensure accountability.

"One of the resolutions we see in making sure of accountability would be allowing the EAIC to have prosecuting power over the cases they inquire.

"Why not go ahead and prosecute them, after all, they are the ones who have done the bulk of the work,” said R. Sivaraj, a member on the task force during a forum titled the Rule of Law & Police Accountability in Malaysia forum held at the Brickfields Asia College campus this afternoon.

He was joined by fellow task force members Suaram Executive director D. Sevan, and lawyers M. Visvanathan and P. Rajsurian during the 90-minute forum, where details pertaining to several cases of custodial deaths were visited.

The EAIC had on Thursday published their findings from a public inquiry held last year, investigating the death of S. Balamurugan who died at the North Klang district police headquarters lockup last Feb.

In their findings, EAIC revealed violent conduct while under police custody had contributed to the victim’s death, and suggested to the Attorney General Chambers that criminal action be taken against the offenders.

Two police officers are understood to have been charged in relation to the case, one with unlawful detention, and another for voluntarily causing hurt.

"I have gone for one of their inquiries and they do a great job in getting the truth out.

"In the case of Balamurugan, it shouldn’t just end with an unlawful detention charge. All they(EAIC) need is prosecutorial powers,” added Sivaraj.