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Tuesday 2 February 2010

Sawmill Worker Becomes Latest Death In Custody

Grief usually overwhelms.

It does not give advance notice.

It does not ask for permission.

It hits you right in the solar plexus and watches with casual disinterest as you crumple to your knees.

The loss of a loved one, the aftermath of a natural disaster, the end of a relationship - they all usually leave you grieving.

So it is with a heavy heart that I wonder - does anyone grieve over the death of the orphaned, 28 year old sawmill worker who was found dead in the police lock-up in Jempol, Negeri Sembilan?

P Babu was under remand since Jan 24 after he surrendered himself to the police over a robbery case.

Today, they say he committed suicide.

Like many others before him, he is now a statistic in the long list of deaths in police custody.

And no prizes for guessing that he was of Indian descent. We have almost come to expect it of the authorities.

Perhaps a few politicians from the Opposition raise hell.

I hope the police Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan would investigate how custodial deaths happen and why it is more prevalent among the Indian suspects. He has to explain.

- PKR Negeri Sembilan deputy chief M Ravi

But not enough to impact anyone - not you, not the government and certainly not the police.

From Francis Udayappan to Kugan Ananthan, over a thousand deaths have occured, but every single incident has been brushed aside to make way for "more important" news.

Which makes me wonder again who grieves for these men who die needlessly because they were not important people, and their lives mattered so little to the rest of the world.

5 comments:

Starmandala said...

There are warlords who worship Death and practise ritual sacrifice. Human blood feeds their bottled gremlins.

sme said...

hi crankshafted :)

almost never have time to read blogs, but i came here to visit you... :)

thks for reminding us of the easily forgotten ones.

Unknown said...

My condolences to the family of P Babu. May his soul rest in peace.

Thanks for highlighting this, Crankshaft.

Take care and God bless.

Pat said...

I've read that his people are refusing to accept his body, and are calling for a post-mortem into the cause of death. Wouldn't that be a given - seeing as how he died, when he shouldn't have, in police custody? Apparently not.

It is bad enough when a young person dies. It is worse when he dies where he should be safest - within the walls of those entrusted to protect him.

Donplaypuks® said...

My advise. Get an independent PM. Make 2 sets of tissue samples etc., and hide 1 or send it off the other immediately overseas for further testing.

In the meantime, my apologies for digressing, but this is a stinger. Refer to: :http://desiderata2000.blogspot.com/

"The Special Officer to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, Nasir Safar, has been asked to resign for calling the early Indian immigrants to Malaya beggars and the Chinese prostitutes. But that is not the icing on the cake. The icing on the cake is that Nasir Safar was the man mentioned in item 30 of PI Bala’s Statutory Declaration:

“Azilah asked me whether the woman was Aminah and I said ‘Yes’. He then walked off and made a few calls on his handphone. After 10 minutes another vehicle, a blue Proton Saga, driven by a Malay man, passed by slowly. The driver’s window had been wound down and the driver was looking at us.”

You can read the full text of Bala’s Statutory Declaration below.

Yes, that man in the blue Proton Saga was Nasir Safar. But the police, who took Bala’s statement, denied it and said that it was a resident from that area and not Nasir Safar. How did the police know this immediately without any further investigation and without taking Nasir Safar’s statement?

Now, why would the Prime Minister’s Special Officer be at the scene of the crime?..."

dpp
We are all of 1 race, the Human Race