Insane or rational – it is not for the police to decide

By P Ramasamy

A few days ago some deities were destroyed in a Hindu temple in Ipoh by an individual, a medical doctor. The police arrested him and declared him mentally unsound.

The police seemed to have overlooked that this person came into the temple, shouted religious slogans and smashed the deities. Apparently there were two flags in his car associated with a terrorist organisation.

About two years ago in Penang an individual was arrested for smashing temple idols. He was also described as mentally unsound.

Is there a porous line between insanity and rationality? Why are the police quick to define acts of religious violence as acts by mentally unsound persons?

Is it not the duty of the police to arrest criminals, and charge them before bringing them to a court of law?

Why are the police trying to discern the mental state of criminal suspects? This is the job of experts in the medical field.

Under normal circumstances, it falls on defence lawyers and not the prosecution to invoke pleas of insanity when mitigating on behalf of their clients.

It is the role of the judge on the basis of evidence to proclaim whether the accused is rational or insane.

The police should not be the prosecutor, the defence or the judge.

While the police have an unenviable task in containing crime and public disorder arising from ethnic and religious violence, insanity should not be used as a cover up.

While it is possible to contain hate crimes from spreading, false diagnosis might do irreparable damage to the police in the eyes of the public.

The police must be seen to be honest and fair by the public. However if the police are found to take action against some individuals and not against others, then there arises problems of legitimacy.

In the case of the temple attack, the public is not convinced of the veracity of information the police have offered so far.

P Ramasamy is Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang.

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