There must be a full probe into why information over the primary cause of death of 6 persons at the 2014 Future Music Festival Asia were withheld and all those involved must face action.
Reports released indicate that the primary cause of death of the 6 were not drug overdose. In fact it was caused by heatstroke instead.
Further, it has now been revealed that at least 2 of those brought in critical were found not to have any drug substances in them at all.
News reports suggest the police were aware of the actual results of the post mortems but did nothing to correct their earlier statement that investigations revealed drug abuse as the cause of death. Why did the police do nothing about it?
This is totally unacceptable.
This is clearly an abuse of power and another indication as to how and why it is the public cannot have any confidence in the police.
I am of the view that the police failed the people here. They also failed the deceased, victims, their families and the legal system. They did not do as the law required of them. This is to my mind a most serious violation of the trust placed upon them by the law and it cannot and must not be passed over lightly.
The police must follow the law. The provisions which apply in cases like these are found in the criminal procedure code and must be followed.
Under the code, the police are duty bound to immediately seek a postmortem in cases like these and the results of that examination must stand as the official cause of death until such time that there is a finding otherwise.
If the police were unhappy with it, they ought to have dealt with it in accordance with law including asking for an inquest at the said time. They had no right to let their erroneous public statements remain and ignore the truth resulting in the most severe of pain and hardship on the families of the victims.
There must be justice for the deceased, victims and their families in this case. Nothing less than that will suffice.
As Member of Parliament, I demand that a thorough probe be conducted at once into this matter. The law gives the police wide powers. Nobody, no matter how high he is, police officer or not, has the right to violate or ignore the law.
Anyone who does just that must be dealt with most severely and punished without delay.