Woman held for 42 days without being charged

KUALA LUMPUR: A mother of three has been languishing behind bars for 42 days for a crime her family and lawyers claim she did not commit.

Rosemary Ginam (pic), 38, was handcuffed in her Kajang home in front of her children by policemen on July 17.

She was arrested in connection with a cheating case involving a company called Dulcet Travel and Tours that allegedly duped consumers by inducing them to buy fake packages at a cheap price.

The family believes that Rosemary, who worked at the company, is a scapegoat.

Since her arrest, Rosemary has been taken to police stations all over the country without being charged and with no end in sight.

Her husband, Hasan Jambai, 40, a spare parts salesman, has had to take time off from work to take care of their three children, aged 17, 14 and nine.

“They cry for their mother every day. They ask me when is mummy coming home and I don’t know what to tell them,” he said.

Hasan lodged a report yesterday with the Hu­man Rights Commis­sion of Malaysia (Suha­kam) over the detention of his wife. He was accompanied by lawyers Rajesh Naga­rajan and Sachpreetraj Singh Sohanpal at the Suhakam headquarters here.

“This is a cheating case and by law, she can only be held under remand for seven days.

“However, the police are refreshing her remand order by rearresting her every few days and sending her to a different police station,” said Rajesh.

So far Rosemary has been taken to police stations in Kuala Lumpur, Perak, Penang, Melaka, Terengganu and Negri Sembilan.

She is currently being held in Putrajaya under a fresh remand order until Aug 29.

“There is a term for this. It is called a roadshow or tukar gari, and it is a clear violation of her fundamental human rights by the police to hold her without trial,” he said.

Rajesh urged the police to either charge his client or release her.

In July, The Star reported that 30 individuals lodged separate police reports after collectively losing thousands of ringgit to the tra­vel company.