Written by Stan Lee
The family of Kugan Ananthan, a 22-year old car theft suspect who was tortured to death by the police, may get to taste some semblance of justice for their unfortunate son.
The Malaysian Medical Council will meet up for the second stage of an inquiry that began in 2010 over the conduct of Dr Abdul Karim Tajudin, the pathologist at Hospital Serdang who conducted the first post-mortem on Kugan.
The meeting will start at 2.30pm at the Ministry of Health in Kuala Lumpur
"The first part was in January 2010 and during that inquiry, where witnesses had also been called, the MMC decided to file formal charges against Dr Katim. Today is the second stage, and they may or may not announce their findings and what sort of punishment if any for him," human rights lawyer N Surendran told Malaysia
Time For The Professionals To Haul Up Their Own
More than 40 wounds were found on Kugan's body including burn-marks that indicated severe torture. Yet, Karim did not mention this and based on his report the then-Selangor police chief Khalid Abu Bakar had told the public Kugan died due to fluid in his lungs.
Khalid has since been promoted to be the Deputy Inspector General of Police, while the sole police officer charged for causing grevious hurt to Kugan - Navindran Vivekanandan - was acquitted without his defence even being called for.
Kugan's mother has appealed for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to be held, but the Najib administration has ignored her pleas.
Kugan had died on Jan 20, 2009 at the Taipan police station in Subang Jaya, five days after he was arrested in connection with the theft of luxury cars. His is just one in a long string of police custodial deaths, where dodgy trial judgements and dubious autopsy findings have thwarted the course of justice.
If found guilty, Karim’s practising license as a doctor could be suspended or revoked.
Civil rights group have called for a deterrent sentence, if he is found guilty, to stop the rash of unprofessional conduct that has help to embolden enforcement authorities to hurt and kill with impunity, secure in the knowledge that government would bail them out.
Obvious cases of unprofessionalism have spotted in the Teoh Beng Hock inquest and the sodomy trial involving Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, where testimony from the Chemistry Department was so skewed, it shocked the nation.
But what matters most of all for M Indra, Kugan's mum who quit her job just to battle for an answer as to why her first-born can be killed so cruelly and yet those who did it can escape punishment, the most important thing is that finally - perhaps some one might be held accountable.
- Malaysia
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