PETALING JAYA: An NGO has urged the government to amend a pre-Merdeka law and extend the limitation period to allow citizens to sue the government for deaths and injuries due to negligence.
Eliminating Deaths and Abuse in Custody Together (EDICT) chairman M Visvanathan said if the government could be allowed six years to sue in a civil claim, the same length of time should be given to individuals or groups.
“The law cannot be discriminatory and in conflict with the equality principle enshrined under Article 8 of the Federal Constitution,” he told FMT.
He said information gathering to file civil action was also slow, especially in custodial death cases that involved the police.
Visvanathan said this in response to the Federal Court refusing a petition by a widow and her two children to reinstate a negligence suit against the government following the death of her husband P Karuna Nithi in a police lock-up in June 2013.
A three-member bench chaired by Chief Judge of Malaya Azhar Mohamed said this was because the Public Authorities Protection Act 1948 made it mandatory for civil action to be filed within three years from the date of death in such cases.
Visvanathan, a lawyer, said even Singapore and the United Kingdom had repealed a similar law and that now the state and its citizens in both countries were given the same duration of six years to file an action.
He said it was time for Parliament to approve an amendment to the law so that the government and the people had equal treatment.
Karuna Nithi’s widow Kaliamah and her children took the position that the cause of action should begin from the day an inquest verdict was delivered, that is on Jan 25, 2015.
However, the government said the suit should have been filed at the latest by June 1, 2016, as Karuna Nithi was found dead in the lock-up in 2013.
Fifteen policemen and the government were named as defendants in the action that was only filed on Jan 25, 2018.
The Coroner’s Court ruled that Karuna Nithi sustained 49 external injuries due to assault with blunt objects.
Coroner Jagjit Singh also concluded that it was accelerated by failure of police to prevent other detainees from abusing him, and to provide the necessary medical care.
The High Court struck out the suit in October 2018 and the Court of Appeal affirmed the decision last year on grounds the three-year limitation period had come to an end on June 1, 2016.
Visvanathan, who represents families of those who died in prison and lock-ups, said it was a pity that Karuna Nithi’s dependents were denied damages of between RM400,000 and RM500,000 in dependency claims and unlawful death.
“The coroner’s finding, which was affirmed by the civil court, would have greatly helped the family to prove their case,” he said.