KUALA LUMPUR – The high court here has ordered police and the government to pay over RM300,000 in damages to the family of Balamurugan Suppiah, who died while in police custody on February 8, 2017.
Lawyers for Liberty director Zaid Malek said judge Su Tiang Joo awarded the deceased’s family RM338,000 during an assessment hearing at the high court today.
The amount consists of RM100,000 for general damages, RM200,000 for aggravated damages, RM16,000 for special damages and costs worth RM22,000.
“This is the outcome of a suit filed by Balamurugan’s family against police and the government for negligence, assault and battery, false imprisonment, and breach of statutory duty (leading to) his death on February 8, 2017 whilst in custody at the Klang Utara district police headquarters.
“The deceased was found with 20 marks of injuries, and his cause of death was determined by the pathologist (to be) coronary artery disease with multiple blunt-force injuries,” Zaid said in a statement today.
The plaintiffs were represented by Zaid and Nabila Khairuddin, while senior federal counsel Nur Ezdiani Roleb and federal counsel Afiq Nazrin Zaharinan appeared for the defendants.
On August 30, 2022, high court judge Datuk Ahmad Bache ruled in favour of the deceased’s family in the civil suit.
The court held that the authorities were responsible for unlawfully detaining and assaulting Balamurugan, thus resulting in the 44-year-old man’s death.
Previously, it was reported that the court had denied his remand application after the magistrate witnessed him vomiting blood and ordered for him to be taken to hospital for medical treatment or released from police custody.
Police, however, are said to have defied this order by taking Balamurugan back to the station, where he later died.
Later, during a hearing on the case by the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission, two pathologists confirmed that the victim had died of blunt-force trauma, which they said aggravated his existing heart issues.
Several detainees who were present at the police station at the same time as Balamurugan also testified that they were beaten by an officer. – May 30, 2024