When the court awards damages to the family of a deceased who died in police custody in suits which normally name individual police officers, the Inspector General of Police and the Government of Malaysia - The question is WHO ends up paying? The police officers that 'caused' the death in custody or just the Government of Malaysia > That is the issue that needs to be addressed. Why should the people pay for the actions/omissions of police officers that tortured and killed people against the law?
As employer, the Government of Malaysia' is vicariously liable for for the actions/omissions of its employees - the said police officers.
The IGP is named as he is responsible for the actions/omissions of the police officers under him...
The one's really responsible for the DEATH is usually individual police officer/s, and the question is whether the government then requires these 'resposible' officer/s to pay the government back part of the damages or NOT. Does the government pay, and then do not go after the responsible officers to pay ????
In the recent case, media report was not very detailed about the court judgment but interestingly, someone who was in court that day blogged about it - where they said that Justice Su ordered that the government “shall first seek satisfaction from Defendant #2 before commencing enforcement against the other defendants in whole or in part.”.
So, what will the government do? What did the government do in similar death in custody cases - did the government go after the other Defendants and ask them to pay part of the damages thereafter? Did the government commence prosecution against these officers? Did the government dismiss these officers??
It was not so yesterday. Justice Su Tian Joo went further than uttering a few words about inhumane treatment and so on. He did something which, to my knowledge, no judge has done before when awarding damages and costs in a death in custody case. He made “a further order.”
Justice Su ordered that the government “shall first seek satisfaction from Defendant #2 before commencing enforcement against the other defendants in whole or in part.” He elaborated that D2 was “found to be primarily liable for inflicting the injuries.” He said D2 “is the primary tortfeasor, so it is for the plaintiff to seek satisfaction from him first.”
To help his hearers understand, Justice Su used a “statutory analogy from the bankruptcy regime,” in which the principal debtor, not the social guarantor is first to pay.
The Senior Federal Counsel, acting for the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC), was taken aback. She read out to Justice Su sections 5 and 6 of the Government Proceedings Act. She proposed that these sections mean Justice Su’s further order is wrong in law. She proposed that it is the government which should pay.
Justice Su agreed, in part. He said the government may well decide to pay first, and that his order states that the respondents are jointly and severally responsible. He added that his “further order” follows from Section 6(1) of the act, which says the government shall not be liable if the liability is shown to lie with the officer personally.
I doubt the government will abide by Justice Su’s further order. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the AGC chooses to appeal his further order.
But I think it’s a great order. Why should taxpayers pay the assessed damages if the person who occasioned them can afford to pay? Why hasn’t the AGC adopted this as the rule in the past? Will the government adopt this as the rule going forward? - Rest Stop Thoughts
Clearly, if these police officers tortured, killed or had a part in the killing, they acted contrary of what is required of police officers, and so, rightly, they should be liable to to personally pay the family of the deceased monies that the court ordered to pay..
If this does not happen, the Malaysian Government may be 'guilty' of protecting law-breaking police officers...and this is NOT GOOD - it will not DETER future torture and killings..
The EAIC also inquired into the death of Balamurugan, and recomended that action be taken against some of the officers specified [See page 108 of the EAIC Report - 9.1, 9.2, 9.3 and 9.4) - Did the Malaysian government take the said action against the said officers as per the finding and recommendation of the said commission.
An attitude by government to PROTECT BAD POLICE OFFICERS is a major concern, and clearly must end. What they did wrong was be condemned, and they that did wrong must be punished...
JOHOR BARU, Dec 19 — The High Court today awarded the family of Syed Mohd Azlan Syed Mohamed Nur who died in police custody with 61 wounds on his body five years ago RM448,000 in compensation and damages.
Malaysia’s highest court decided on the matter today after hearing the case involving former lorry driver P Chandran, who died in police custody in Kuala Lumpur in 2012 after his medical needs were not attended to. Today, the seven-member Federal Court bench led by Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Rohana Yusuf decided that the family of Chandran is entitled to get aggravated damages amounting to RM200,000..Following the Federal Court ruling today, Chandran’s widow Selvi Narayan and daughter Rita will get total compensation amounting to RM357,000 due to Chandran’s death while in police custody at the Dang Wangi police station in 2012.
A housewife who won a negligence suit against the police and Government over her husband's death while in police custody in 1999, was Wednesday awarded RM1.4mil in damages after appealing to the High Court.Prime Minister Anwar and the current government MUST stop protecting bad police officers - If court awards damages to family of victims of death and custody, the government must thereafter go after the responsible officers to pay the said damages... and better still terminate such law-breaking police officers, and also prosecute them in criminal courts..
Anwar has been talking about 3R - Will action be taken against these police officers for what they said in the WhatsApp chat
...in a Klang Utara police headquarters WhatsApp chat group showed that police officers had not only made fun of Balamurugan but had also used degrading words a few hours before he died.
The messages, which were revealed during a hearing conducted by the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission, were exchanged after Balamurugan’s remand was rejected as he was unwell.
Some of the messages of the officers, read during the hearing, were “What should we do with this k****g, he looks like he is going to die”, “give him ketum”, “give him betel leaves to chew”, “use Cap Kapak on his eyes”, and “give him Carlsberg, he will be alright”.
See some earlier posts
RM490,000 to widow of Dharmendran(died in police custody) - 4 officers charged for 'murder' remain FREE and in the police?
RM1.4 mil in damages for family of man who died in police custody
Extrajudicial killing by Malaysian police could be murder, and Body-Cams and CCTV could DETER such killings. - Delay in ensuring all police is wearing body-cams, more than a year after budget approved is incompetence of Minister and government
High Court awards RM338,000 to family of custodial death victim
S Balamurugan’s family had filed a suit against the police and the government for negligence, assault and battery, false imprisonment, and breach of statutory duty.
PETALING JAYA: The family of a man found dead in a Klang Utara police headquarters lockup in 2017 was awarded RM338,000 by the Kuala Lumpur High Court today.
S Balamurugan was found with 20 injuries and his cause of death was determined by the pathologist as “coronary artery disease with multiple blunt force injuries”.
Balamurugan’s family had filed a suit against the police and the government for negligence, assault and battery, false imprisonment and breach of statutory duty in his death on Feb 8, 2017 while he was in custody at the Klang Utara police headquarters.
On Aug 30, 2022, the Kuala Lumpur High Court found the police and the government liable for Balamurugan’s death and ordered that the damages be assessed separately.
In a statement, Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) said Justice Su Tiang Joo granted the award during today’s hearing for the assessment of damages.
LFL said the court awarded RM100,000 in general damages, RM200,000 in aggravated damages, RM16,000 in special damages and RM22,000 in costs.
Balamurugan’s family was represented by LFL’s Zaid Malek and Nabila Khairuddin. The police and the government were represented by senior federal counsel Nur Ezdiani Roleb and federal counsel Afiq Nazrin Zaharinan.
In June 2017, FMT reported that messages in a Klang Utara police headquarters WhatsApp chat group showed that police officers had not only made fun of Balamurugan but had also used degrading words a few hours before he died.
The messages, which were revealed during a hearing conducted by the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission, were exchanged after Balamurugan’s remand was rejected as he was unwell.
Some of the messages of the officers, read during the hearing, were “What should we do with this k****g, he looks like he is going to die”, “give him ketum”, “give him betel leaves to chew”, “use Cap Kapak on his eyes”, and “give him Carlsberg, he will be alright”.
About two hours before these messages were exchanged, Balamurugan was in a Klang court where his remand was rejected.
During the remand hearing, the magistrate told the Klang Utara police headquarters assistant investigation officer, who was with Balamurugan, to take him to hospital as he looked unwell.
Instead, Balamurugan was driven to the district police headquarters where he was placed again in a lockup.
He died less than 12 hours after his remand was rejected. -FMT,30/5/2024
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