S Balamurugan is dead. But his family deserves justice to be served.
The only way the country can reflect that it’s upholding and promoting the rule of law is to ensure Balamurugan’s death is classified as murder.
And to allow the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) to appoint a special prosecutor to commence legal proceedings against police officers responsible for Balamurugan’s death.
This would ensure his family has fair and efficient access to the legal process.
After a thorough investigation, the Commission has concluded that the repetitive blunt force trauma inflicted upon Balamurugan can be linked to or would have caused his death.
It has also requested the Attorney General to prosecute the two police officers responsible for the death.
Some 1,654 people have died in police custody from 2010 till February 2017. Balamurugan’s death too cannot just be another statistics.
And police officers cannot continue to be left off the hook.
In this case, no appropriate medical facilities were provided to Balamurugan despite other inmates indicating to the police of his weak health condition.
And the police did not release Balamurugan as per the magistrate’s order. In short, they did not follow the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).
This shows abuse of power and police highhandedness.
Therefore, I once again call for Balamurugan’s death to be classified as murder and the errant police officers to be charged according to the law.