TOLERANT: Police says no truth in PKR deputy human rights chief’s allegation
KUALA LUMPUR: Police yesterday criticised PKR deputy human rights chief S. Jayathas over his allegation that he was manhandled when making a report at the Dang Wangi station on Sunday.
District police chief Assistant Commissioner Zainuddin Ahmad said they had been patient and tolerant of Jayathas despite his antics and in allowing a large party into the premises.
“When Jayathas arrived at the Dang Wangi police headquarters, he was accompanied by a large group of people. They said they wanted to lodge a report and we allowed at least 30 of them to enter,” Zainuddin said.
“Under normal circumstances, how many people does it take to lodge a police report? But police took a tolerant stance and allowed the group to enter the station premises, which is not big to begin with.
“Certain members of the 30-strong group who entered also took numbers to queue, which posed a hindrance to other members of the public who had come` to lodge reports of their own.”
Zainuddin said Jayathas should have been more considerate instead of going in and out of the station when there were already so many people there. It was not a situation where 30 people entered to lodge their own respective reports.
“While the family of N. Dhamendran was lodging the report, Jayathas was running in and out of the premises. He was refused entry as the premises was already packed.”
Zainuddin said when Jayathas was denied entry by a policeman on guard duty, he purposely bumped into him before falling as if pole-axed. Jayathas pretended to have fainted but suddenly regained consciousness when police offered to call for an ambulance.
“We are not going to keep quiet and allow wild allegations to be made against the police.
“Investigations have been started against Jayathas under Section 353 of the Penal Code for using criminal force to deter a public servant from carrying out his duty,” Zainuddin said.
Jayathas had accompanied the family of Dhamendran to the police station yesterday to lodge a report over his (Dhamendran’s) death while in custody.
Dhamendran’s case has been classified as murder by police with investigations headed by a team from Bukit Aman.
Jayathas claimed that he was pushed to the ground by the policeman when he tried to re-enter the station after going out briefly to meet reporters.
He also lodged a report over the allegation.
Meanwhile, Dhamendran’s wife, Maria Susay, had her statement recorded by the investigating team at the Federal police headquarters yesterday. Accompanied by lawyer N. Surendran, the 26-year-old housewife spent almost two hours answering questions.
It is understood that the team has interviewed eight policemen based at the city police headquarters and recorded their statements as part of investigations, although nobody has been arrested or suspended.
New Straits Times