PDRM totally screwed
Police abuses entire family
An entire family has claimed to be abused and humiliated by the police for reasons unknown to them. NGO presses Suhakam to investigate the incident
KUALA LUMPUR: An Indian family from the Jinjang longhouse settlement seeks justice over an arrest due to some drugs which were found in their neighbour’s premises.
A police report was made yesterday at the Dang Wangi police station against the Jinjang Utara police unit for what they claim to be police brutality against her family.
G. Allagamah, 38, related the incident to FMT where her family suffered an ordeal in the police lock-up upon a raid by the police to both her house and her neighbour’s.
“It was around 1:30am on Oct 5, when we heard noises outside our neighbour’s premises. We peeped and saw a group of people whom we believed to be police,” she said.
Allagamah’s family asked the police officers if they could help as they were trying to get into the neighbour’s house.
“Upon us asking how we could help them, a police officer started questioning us about our neighbours and their whereabouts,” Allagamah told FMT.
From what it seemed to be a few questions, Allagamah’s family was then interrogated if they knew the neighbour’s activities leading to a raid into their home instead.
When Allagamah welcomed the police force into her house, little she knew that they were trying to find their way to the neighbours house as some of the doors in the longhouse settlement are connected to their neighbours’.
“The police team went to the kitchen and pointed at a locked door and we told them that it leads to my neighbour’s house. We had no issue in them breaking the door as they were police and we thought it was best we helped them in their investigations,” she said.
The team of police officers left to the neighbour’s house leaving Allagamah and her family behind.
Their ordeal started when the police officers returned through the same door which they broke through bringing somewhat they claim to be drugs and asked Allagamah on how the drugs had got into her neighbour’s house.
“I was puzzled and explained that the drugs were found in my neighbour’s house and not mine,” she said.
While trying to explain, she was slapped by a female officer and without further explanations, Allagamah was arrested along with her husband, her eldest son and her son-in law’s cousin.
“We were handcuffed and brought to the Jinjang police station witnessed by our neighbourhood,” she said in tears.
Allagamah’s ordeal in the lock-up…
Allagamah related her ordeal in the police station where they were held up for six days without being produced in court.
She was held separately in the females’ lock-up away from her son, husband and relative where she claimed that she was harassed by the police officers.
Upon a body check held at the investigation room, a lighter fell from her inner wear; where she has kept due to her smoking habits.
The female police officer who first spotted the lighter started passing her lingerie around to even male officers asking them how is it possible to hide a lighter in it.
“The policemen then started making fun of me along with the female officers on how I could hide my cigarette lighter inside my bra,” she told FMT.
The housewife also said she found her handbag opened in a locker which she remembered locking and asked a fellow police officer on her missing wallet.
“The police officer sarcastically replied that there wasn’t any money in my wallet and why am I worried. How the police officer knew what was inside my wallet?” she asked.
They then found the wallet elsewhere and returned her saying that she must have missed it somewhere.
Allagamah further related another incident where she was bullied by her inmates who poured soup into her cell leaving her wet.
“When I called out to the police officers, I was instead attended by another fellow inmate who has the freedom to move around freely within the premises of the station.”
Her continuous cries eventually caught the attention of a police officer, who then brought another male officer known as George.
George did not pay heed to her pleas and grievances, while he said that she will be charged for drug offences.
“Male officers enter our cell premises often and we have no privacy even while we are bathing as there are no covered bathrooms,” Allagamah ranted.
A deal to be set free….
From what she thought would be a get-away from the horrid experience, turned out as a nightmare when the investigation officer called her to speak on a release deal.
“An amount of RM20, 000 was requested for us to be out on police bail and the police would go for the actual suspects. However, the investigating officer told us that should the actual suspect pay up the sum, the police will then throw the investigation back to us,” Allagamah told FMT.
She said that they were requested for RM40, 000 to drop the entire case so that they do not have to face court charges.
Nevertheless, the family was finally released on police bail as they could not fork out the total sum and the police informed them that they would be rearrested anytime.
The family’s joy only lasted one day as the son who was arrested along with the family attempted suicide yesterday morning at their house in the settlement.
J. Seager attempted suicide by hanging himself but was discovered by the youngest sibling who alerted his parents. They manage to save him on time.
Allagamah showed a handwritten note by her son before his suicide attempt,claiming that her son had undergone trauma in the lock-up, being harassed by the police officers.
“He was accused of being a transgender and questioned repeatedly on his gender status,” she said.
The note showed that the son, who is now in critical condition in the Selayang Hospital, blamed the police force for arresting and humiliating the family; who claimed to be innocent.
Seager also wrote in the note, which he thought would be the final communication to the parents, to continue striving for justice over what has actually happened to his family.
She claims that her son is ambitious and currently pursuing his aviation management course in Cybernetics College.
The family is assisted by a local NGO, Alternative Action Team who will be submitting a memorandum to both human rights council Suhakam and the Bukit Aman police headquarters on Oct 14.
The president of the NGO, B. Kalaivanan said that he is seeking an answer from the police force over the entire episode.
He also seeks Suhakam’s assistance to investigate the alleged abuse of power by the police force.
“The drugs were taken from the neighbour’s house. We do not know if he drugs were taken from there or brought in by purpose,” he added.
Kalaivanan added that the the police owes the family an explanation over the incident.
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AS LONG AS PDRM REMAIN AS A GANGSTER TRAINING CENTER, NOTHING GOOD CAN BE DONE.
IT IS TIME TO CLOSE PDRM DOWN FOR GOOD.
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