KOTA KINABALU: Counsels acting for Zara Qairina Mahathir’s family want strict action against investigators if they did not comply with standard operating procedures during the investigation into the case.
In a joint statement, the lawyers said Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay’s announcement of an investigation into three senior officers was very much welcomed.
The lawyers are Hamid Ismail, Shahlan Jufri, Rizwandean M Borhan, Mohd Luqman Syazwan Zabidi, Mohd Syarulnizam Mohd Salleh and Farrah Nasser.
"We support this probe. The ‘justice for Zara’ wave would not have grown to this level if the investigations were conducted accordingly in the first place," they said.
They urged that deterrent action be taken against any officials found to have not complied with standard operating procedures during the probe into Zara’s case.
"We hope this justice for Zara wave would serve as a reminder to the police force to conduct investigations on any cases including deaths under suspicious circumstances thoroughly from the second a report is received," they said.
The lawyers said they are still waiting for the Attorney General’s Chambers to set an inquest date for this case.
Zara was found unconscious after she was believed to have fallen from the third floor of her school hostel building on July 16, and was declared dead a day later.
Investigators at first classified this as sudden death but later developments found she was a victim of bullying and calls to reinvestigate the case surfaced.
A nationwide #justiceforzara movement was activated with rallies and tahlil prayers held in multiple districts and states over the past week.
The Attorney General’s Chambers later allowed for Zara’s exhumation and for an autopsy to be conducted, where investigators found bruise and injury marks on her body.
