KUALA LUMPUR: Bukit Aman says 19 custodial deaths have been recorded this year and the Criminal and Custodial Death Investigation Unit (USJKT) of the Integrity and Standard Compliance Department (JIPS) are investigating them.
The death involved 14 Malay men, one Chinese man, one Indian man and three foreign men, said the police force secretary Deputy Comm Datuk Noorsiah Mohd Saaduddin.
She also said as of Friday (July 15), nine cases of death in lockups were recorded.
“There were eight cases of death in hospitals and two cases of death while en-route to hospitals,” she said in a statement after a meeting on custodial death with Suhakam and the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) on Friday.
DCP Noorsiah said of the 19 cases, one had been successfully prosecuted on Jan 21 where the suspects were charged under Section 323 of the Penal Code.
"Another case had been referred to the coroner while 17 others are still being investigated," she said.
She also said a delegation from Bukit Aman, Suhakam, EAIC and Centre for Human Rights Research and Advocacy (Centhra) visited the Shah Alam police headquarters' central lockup.
"The visit is aimed at giving a clearer picture of how the central lockup operates," she said.
Collaboration with other agencies is among the efforts taken to overcome custodial deaths and to show the police's transparency in the management of detainees, she added.
