PERMATANG PAUH, May 3 ― The police committed a crime by deleting a video of them arresting Batu MP Chua Tian Chang yesterday, according to a PKR lawyer who said it amounted to tampering with evidence.
Subang MP R Sivarasa alleged that police deleted all the data in the mobile phone of Chua’s aide, Chin Sin Pang, including a video of the arrest.
Sivarasa said the video could have been used as evidence should the PKR leader better known as Tian Chua choose to file a civil suit against the authorities over the arrest.
“The police themselves are perpetuating a crime by deleting the record which was in his phone, that’s a crime.
“They in fact have committed a crime now, there is a crime in the Penal Code Section 193, 195, where you destroy, tamper, interfere with evidence. That’s the crime they are doing,” he said after accompanying Chin, Tian Chua’s driver Mohd Huraimi Husni and Batu Uban assemblyman Dr T. Jayabalan to give their statements to the police at the Central Seberang Perai district police headquarters.
Sections 193 and 195 of the Penal Code cover the submission of false evidence and fabricating evidence for the procurement of a conviction, respectively.
He added that the police confiscated Huraimi’s phone after noticing that the latter was taking pictures of the arrest which was also a crime.
“Deleting is unlawful, the way they confiscated Huraimi’s phone is totally illegal because if you take something from him, you must acknowledge it and you must give [him] a document in writing to say you have taken this for the purpose of investigation,” he said.
Although Chin’s phone was returned to him, Huraimi’s phone is still in police possession.
Sivarasa also said that tampering and confiscating the phones of the men who were with Tian Chua was “totally illegal” as they were not involved with why the lawmaker was arrested.
“The arrest was for Tian Chua’s role in the May 1st rally, so their taking the hand phones and deleting the data had nothing to do with it. So on that basis alone, it’s an illegal act,” he said.
He was not sure if any of the three men would press charges, however, adding that he will wait for Tian Chua to be released before making a decision.
Chua was arrested late last night for his participation in the May Day rally held on Friday in Kuala Lumpur that drew a crowd of about 10,000 people.
Chua posted on his Twitter last night that his car was intercepted in the middle of the highway at Seberang Jaya where, according to him, he was forcefully pulled out by several policemen.
He claimed the cops acted rudely and roughly when he asked whether he had been arrested, and alleged that some had pulled him by the hair while others hit him on the head.
