PUTRAJAYA, Aug 8 — The Court of Appeal today maintained that a former constable, the police force and the government are liable for the death of A. Kugan, saying that instances of custodial deaths are unacceptable.
In a unanimous decision by a three-judge panel led by Justice Datuk Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof, the judges allowed, however, V. Navindran’s appeal against the charge false imprisonment, and apportioned liability for the custodial death between him, the police and the federal government.
As part of their decision today, the bench said that “Custodial death cannot and should not happen in this country.”
“There should be zero tolerance to any custodial deaths in all the remand centres in the country and should custodial death happen, a public, independent inquiry must be initiated to commensurate the right to know for the family of the deceased when there is some doubt to the cause of death,” the strongly-worded judgement read.
On June 26 last year, the High Court decision in a civil suit by Kugan’s family held Navindran liable for the suspected car thief’s death in custody and ordered the former policeman to pay the entirety of the awarded damages. This was reduced to 45 per cent today.
Today, the judges also set aside the RM100,000 awarded for false imprisonment, noting that the remand order for the deceased was not set aside and no application was made to declare this unlawful.
The rest of the award was maintained, including RM192,000 for loss of support, RM9,700 for funeral expenses, RM50,000 for pain and suffering, RM50,000 for assault and battery, RM100,000 for misfeasance of public office and exemplary damages of RM300,000.
The court also ordered the appellants to pay RM30,000 in costs to Kugan’s family; RM13,500 from Navindran and RM16,500 from the police and the government.
Lawyer Sivarasa Rasiah who represented Kugan’s family said he felt vindicated by the court’s decision today.
“I think with the judgement today, it is an important reminder to the police and the government that legal reforms are necessary to ensure zero tolerance on custodial deaths.
“We are still seeing at least minimum one death a month which is unacceptable and Kugan’s death happened in the most shocking and atrocious manner,” he told reporters.
Also present during the court’s decision was Kugan’s mother, N. Indra, 46, her brother, N. Ganesan and his wife, S. Renuga.
When asked for a comment, they merely said they hoped there would be no more custodial deaths in the future.
On January 13, 2012, Indra filed a civil suit against then Selangor police chief Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, who is now Inspector-General of Police, Navindran, former Subang Jaya police chief ACP Zainal Rashid Abu Bakar (now deceased), the then IGP and the Government.
Kugan died in police custody at the USJ Taipan police station on January 20, 2009. Kugan, 22, was detained as a suspect in a luxury car theft case.
