Don’t lock them up, go back to fining them, NGO pleads to cops

An NGO has appealed to the police and attorney-general to revert to issuing compound fines for those flouting the stay-at-home order.

PETALING JAYA: An NGO against deaths and abuse in custody has urged law enforcement authorities to rethink detaining those who violate the movement control order (MCO) in police lockups.

Eliminating Deaths and Abuse in Custody Together (EDICT) said putting offenders in detention centres violated the principle of social distancing, which was a key to defeating Covid-19.

“Introducing new people to lockups puts prior detainees and all lockup staff at risk of contracting the virus,” it said in a statement today.

EDICT said it was startled by a news report yesterday in which Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Hamid Bador supported the decision to detain MCO offenders in lockups instead of compounding the offences with fines.

The NGO said data revealed by then home minister Ahmad Hamid Zahidi, in a parliamentary answer in 2017, revealed that an average of 16 people died every year in detention.

“The figure should be zero because laws require lockups to admit only people who are well enough to be detained, whether for one day or 28 nights,” it added.

EDICT said 18% of those who died in lockups were foreigners and that the government had wilfully failed to conduct inquests into their deaths.

It noted that anyone held in a lockup and subjected to a remand hearing or trial was entitled to legal representation.

“Lawyers must travel to meet their clients and prepare their cases. This is not good because such movement is contrary to the intent of the MCO,” it added.

The statement said the IGP and the National Security Council (NSC) seemed to think that the lockup could be used for punishment rather than detention.

“Only the judiciary can mete out punishment. Even in a pandemic, the IGP and the NSC must operate within the law.

“We call upon the IGP, the NSC and attorney-general to avoid decisions which unwittingly promote lawlessness.

“We call upon them to revert to compounding offences and trying them later, if necessary,” it added. - FMT

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