PETALING JAYA: The lawyers representing a 20-year-old man allegedly assaulted and tortured by police last month have urged the Bukit Aman integrity and standards compliance department to initiate immediate disciplinary proceedings and criminal charges against the officers involved.
The man, who asked to be known as Daniel, was arrested on Nov 15 at his grandfather’s home in Banting. Officers allegedly entered the home on the pretext of seeking help to fix their motorcycle.
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He said that upon entering, the three men identified themselves as police officers and assaulted him until he confessed to a robbery.
Daniel said he was repeatedly beaten, even while in the police car, and alleged that officers had used a cigarette butt and lighter to burn his lip and genitals.
“He was smoking a cigarette and while doing that, he took the cigarette and pressed it against my lip. He took a lighter and burned my private parts with it,” he said at a press conference here today.
A medical report confirmed soft tissue injuries and a burn wound on his lip.
Police said it was a case of mistaken identity and dropped the case.
At the press conference, lawyers Latheefa Koya, Rajesh Nagarajan, Mahajoth Singh and Yu Ying Ying presented CCTV footage of Daniel’s assault at his grandfather’s house.
“Without any warning, he was immediately beaten, kicked, punched and slapped multiple times.
“This is a case of mistaken identity. The police themselves admitted they got the wrong person. But the beatings and the kicking already happened from the very beginning,” Latheefa said.
The lawyers said the CCTV evidence clearly showed the assault, and urged immediate action to prevent a cover-up.
Daniel’s mother said she filed a police report on Nov 18, when her son was released from a four-day remand, after seeing his swollen face. However, she said she was pressured to retract it.
She claimed that an officer had asked her to withdraw her report and offered “what he called a ‘win-win’ situation”.
“He said if I withdrew the report, my son’s case would be dropped. If I proceeded, the police wrongdoing would only result in a two-year jail term and a fine of RM2,000. But my son’s case could result in 14 years in prison.”
