Death of K. Nagarajan: Were there CCTV recordings?

I call upon Home Minister Dato Seri Hishamuddin Hussein to produce the CCTV recordings of the movements of odd job worker K Nagarajan, who died whilst in police custody whilst placed in the Dang Wangi police headquarters lock-up on Monday.

In November 2012, his deputy, Dato Abu Seman Yusop told Parliament that all police stations were now fully equipped with camera's. He was responding to a question over measures taken by the government to reduce incidents at police stations after an Indonesian woman was allegedly raped at a police station in Butterworth, Penang.

Cases like that of Teoh Beng Hock, Kugan and Ahmad Sarbani Bin Mohamad also saw lengthy inquiries and a lot of public discontent whilst efforts were taken to determine what actually happened to them whilst in custody.

The absence of answers put the families of the deceased and all others concerned through severe difficulties in trying to find out the actual reasons behind their deaths.

The purpose of the camera is to deal with problems like these. Apart from reducing opportunities on part of officers to abuse detainees in police stations, it also serves the all equally important purpose of capturing events on tape so as to reveal the actual events which led to the deaths.

We have criticised the police so many times over incidents like these. We have demanded that measures be taken to ensure incidents like these stop. We have had Royal Commissions of Enquiry making recommendations for change. We have demanded that cameras be put up so as to ensure that all cases involving assault and deaths in custody are made easier to solve with video recordings.

Now is the time for the Home Minister to produce the evidence. If the police have done nothing wrong, then clear them immediately. If the evidence shows otherwise, then those responsible should be charged without any further delay.