Saturday, February 7, 2009

An observation from a doctor on Kugan's death

I like to thank Mr.Poobalan for his wonderful posting of the video clip taken in the mortuary . After watching that clip I had a restless night and could not sleep the whole night . Adding to that horror I had to company my wife in watching the Horror movie in Star Movies last night . Driving to my other clinic in butterworth this morning , the whole event kept running in my mind .
As a Surgical Medical officer , I have done many post mortems. I had assisted in doing post mortem in murder cases too. The post mortem always gives a clue on what caused the death and the estimated time of death based on the rigor mortis that has set in .
As a student in medical college I have always been fascinated in Forensic Medicine . Looking at Kugan's dead body and the wounds inflicted on him gives a very good clue on what the probable cause of death would be . The most clearest indication of the cause of death is the froth seen coming out of his mouth . Death due to asphyxia ( suffocation ) .The video clip must have been taken before the post mortem . I did not see any mid line insertion on the chest and abdomen . This is my assertion from what we call as external post-mortem . Based on my experience , I did my own external post-mortem from the video clips and the photos that I have received . I wish there was a closer picture of the wound . I managed to zoom in to enlarge the picture to get a better view. We usually start the external post-mortems from top to down but in this case I like to take it from the bottom . First of all , Lets look at the legs . You will notice that below both the knees , the colour was darker then the thigh . That is due to pooling of blood in the lower limbs . At the time of his death the blood did not have a chance to return back to the heart . When a person dies in a lying down position on his back , you will notice this pooling of blood on the dependent sides of the back . In this case it was noticed on his lower limbs . My assumption here is that he had died on a sitting position or was lying down with his feet hanging down . The blood did not have time to return back to the heart . Moving up to the back . There is a huge bruising at the hypochondriac areas of both sides of his abdomen( near the kidney ) . This bruising is caused by the rupture of the capillary veins and arteries , which is probably due to repeated punching or kicking on the area . The wounds on the back are not so fresh . In certain areas , there are granulation tissue showing healing . This are injuries inflicted probably 2 to 3 days prior to his death . The wounds is most probably caused by a blunt object tearing into the skin due to pressure . Probably he was made to lie down on some rough surface and dragged on it .. Moving to the chest . There are some amount of bruises on the chest indicating trauma to the chest . The chest wall appear sunken in . He probably has couple of rib fractures . Post mortem of the chest will confirm . Next interesting thing clearly noticed was the abrasion on the neck with a semi circle bruise . This is probably due to strangulation on the neck probably with a rope which cause the abrasion . The abrasion and the bruise is position exactly on the cricoids cartilage . Probably the force would have caused the cartilage to break . The face did not have any gross deformities . There was not Raccoons eyes ( Black Eye ). He was probably slapped but not punched on his face . The absence of the Raccoons eyes indicates that there was no serious injurious to the head .There was no bleeding from the ears which also rules out any head injuries. What interest me most is the blood oozing out of the mouth and the with froth . The blood is fresh appears as if it was cough out . The blood is most probably is from the tracheal injury . That would have caused choking . The choking had triggered bronchospasm causing his air passages to constrict and difficulty to breath . The froth is not blood stained . That shows there was no injury to lung tissue . Froth is usually seen in death due to asphyxia . Another thing , when there is a tracheal injury, when a person drinks a cold water , the water moves down into the trachea instead of the oesophagus causing vaso vagal inhibition and thus causing broncho spasm.. Fluid accumulation in the lung also explains the white froth . Overall I can see the body is already in Rigor Mortis . The Rigor Mortis takes place after 6 hours and completes in 12 hours . So at the time the video was taken Kugan was already dead for more than 18 hours . No sign of any active resuscitation is noted . His body was most probably discovered after he had died .
The cause of death is due to asphyxia but most definitely not due to asthma.
Historically, law enforcement officials were rarely if ever held to account ... Today, despite increased legal safeguards, law enforcement officers who flout them can still enjoy effective impunity when they are alleged to have abused or even unlawfully killed victims .
Racist Law officers are always brutal and most brutal officers are always racist.
The opinion expressed above is not of an expert opinion of a Forensic Specialist . It was based on the observation and the knowledge of medicine . The opinion is not based on being prejudice towards the Police .
I hope someone from MI Club can provide me further details of the death and what was the post mortem report . Does anybody have the statistics of lock up death in Malaysia..
Kugan , was just a car thief . A waste in the society . Probably a drug addict and a disgrace to our community . Some might say that he deserved to die . If he was caught by the public and beaten to death, the public would have not made so much noise . Some said it was his karma . He had to die a violent death due to his violent life style . Whatever said or done , a human is a human . No human has the right to take another mans life . No matter how cruel a man is , or no matter how gruesome a mans crime is , we have the Law . That separates us from those who live in the jungle . The Law was created not only to protected the innocent but to deliver justice . No man has the right to take the Law himself . The Law punishes the criminal based on the crime committed . Even when a person is sentenced to death by hanging is based on the crime committed and the intention to committed the crime .
There have been deaths in the lock up before . This death got the public attention because we had the chance to see the dead body – for some , they were there and others thru internet . This has become possible because of the growing unity in the community . Kugan's death is an eye opener for everyone . The community should realise that this should not be happening in Malaysia . A prisoner has his rights and we have to know them . Why was Kugan questioned without the presence of a Lawyer . His should have had a Lawyer present to advise him . I hope anybody who is a lawyer will explain regarding the rights of an individual when he is arrested .
The community today is very upset with what they have seen recently with Kugan's death . Are we going to prevent such incident from occurring or prevent others from sharing the same fate as Kugan or are we going to join hands in preventing those unfortunate from becoming someone like Kugan . Who are we going to blame . Is the Government responsible for depriving our community the basic education ? Are the responsible for the increase in poverty among our community . Why our great leaders chosen by us , in the last 30 years have not done anything to elevate our misery and instead are busy elevating their assets. Are we to be blamed for electing the wrong leaders ? Do we blame Kugan's parents for their failure to nurture the son to be a good citizen ?
Kugan is not a hero . He is a thief . His death is of no loss to the society . He is no saint to be made a statue . However he is part of us . He represented our failure and represented our suffering . His death should bring about a greater unity among our community . For the sake of our future we should thrive forward to prevent another soul from taking an early departure . We have to educated the next generation in order to prevent another Kugan from appearing . Let Kugan's death be lesson to all of us and let Kugan be the Ghost of our past . Let us thrive to build unity and prosperity in our community for the sake of our future generation .
What happen to Kugan was a sad event . Whether it was his choice to chose the wrong path or was it the society that drove him to chose the wrong path only he could have answered but those who were responsible for his early departure although they were eager to solve the case had no right to torture another human being ..
My sympathy is to the family who has to live with this traumatic experience for the rest of their life . All we can do is to pray to God to forgive Kugan for his crime for he has paid his due dearly by undergoing a tremendous torture and eventually with his life . As for our community the Ghost of Kugan will remain to haunt us to constantly remind us of our suffering while our elected leaders sleep peacefully dreaming about their bank balance getting bigger .
Justice Not Served
Dr.Sreedharan
 

Video of Uthaya a custodial abuse by Malaysian Police










Case Sedition Act - Letter to Gordon Brown inregards of Discreamination & Marginalization Malaysian Minority Indian by UMNO Govt.

Uthaya leg was swollen and toe fractured when he was brought from Kemunting Detention Camp "BLINDFOLDED" Uthayakumar is a victim of custodial abuse!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9VK9uvWp7c

And please register/vote the group at facebook 1,000.000 People wants Malaysian Govt, Release 4 HINDRAF Lawyers from ISA
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=53185116555

Letter to PR Leader on A.Kugan's death from Naragan

A number of things have been happening in the course of the last weekor so that has raised some very fundamental questions.
The death ofKugan – there are so many questions, there are moral questions, thereare political questions and there are just plain questions.

1) The first and fundamental question of "Is any killing acceptable?"
2) Who has the right to kill?
3) Is some killing more OK than others?
4) Is Police killing different than criminal's killing?
5) Is it OK to kill by law enforcers on the hint of lawbreaking?
6) Why do some people take such a defensive view of Kugan's killing?
7) Why do others higher up back them up?
8) Why is it so difficult to hold the police responsible for this killing?

It was so easy to charge the 60+ poor Indians on the 25th ofNov for the unbailable offence of murder for no other reason thanbeing at Batu Caves on that day.
9) Why are the majority of the Leading Malaysian public figureskeeping quiet on this outrageous murder?
10) Why are only Hindraf, the Indian leaders of the opposition andsome conscientious bloggers taking serious offence with this murder?.
11) Is this really a Malaysian issue or is it only an Indian issue?

People say, it is a Malaysian issue but behave as if it is an Indianissue.
All these questions produce a very strong stench of something terriblywrong with processes in our society – a stinking stench.

I don't knowif you all can get it, but I get it and it is very strong and it isvery unbearable on top of everything else that is going on.
Like so many other issues, will this issue also meet the same fate – alot of noise and very little or no action.
I feel very angry and bitter, that this is a very likely outcome. And this is absolutely notright. If there are right thinking people ( I mean just people, notMalay, Chinese or Indian, just people) then I think it is time thatthese people speak up and make this episode to be the trigger tocompletely stop all police killings in the country.

If it is a truly Malaysian Issue then the PR members of Parliament,not Manickavasagam or Manoharan or Sivarasa should raise the issue inParliament and push for the implementation of the IPCMC. I do not even attempt to call on the BN members to do the same, because that isutterly useless. If I am to be wrong on this count, then let us seesome of them support the motion if the PR members bring it up inParliament.

But even before any of that I have this doubt. Can the Pakatan Rakyator should I say will the Pakatan Rakyat Coalition take this up as anissue and really do something or will they calculate the politicalbenefit in this before they will act.

Will they just leave it as a fewstatements to the press at the heat of the moment to appear supportiveand then nothing more. This will be their behaviour if it isinterpreted by them as an Indian issue rather than as a National issue.

Will the PR leaders truly lead?

We will wait and see.

Why no action taken on Police on Kugan's death- WMP

The late Kugan was murdered on January 20, 2009, and it has been 13 days and yet all the authorities could state is "it is under investigation". Is the PDRM under their UMNO led masters taking us Malaysians for a fool as an enslaved nation? The late Kugan was murdered (in custody) under the protection of the government that we elect to administer and adhere to the Rule of Law to protect every Malaysian.

HINDRAF is baffled and concerned with the level of competency of the Royal Police Force, the Attorney General's Office and its inherent objectives to uphold justice, fairness and equality under the Federal Constitution for each one of us.

HINDRAF is concerned that the UMNO led government continuous activities through its agents undermines and erodes the Rule of Law and Justice will lead it to be a Police State for the peaceful Malaysian society. The UMNO led government is accelerating its process of becoming a police state with constant arbitrary decision against the public's will, human right violations that are permitted, rationalized by their spinmasters and justified.

The late Kugan's case is just one example of the miscarriage of justice that prevails under the UMNO led government. Are they the trying to sweep this under the carpet and put it to rest? HINDRAF calls upon the public as we, the People Power to take all necessary action and pressure our elected representative in Parliament and the State assembly to uphold the Rule of Law, Justice and Democracy that it is entrenched in our constitution to safeguard the individual right and the direction of the country for our future generations or are we going to live and condone to another cover up?.

The misuse and abuse of power by the UMNO led government has propelled to a "dangerous and alarming" level that it effects each and every Malaysian someway or rather and it is high time, we the public show our dissent and voice out our own actions collectively to save our nation from being a police state without any transparency, accountability for the incompetence administered by the elected representative and their agents for fear and intimidation. HINDRAF calls upon the Inspector General of Police and the Attorney General to stop playing politics and immediately order the arrests and prosecution of the Police murderers as Malaysians can no longer be duped into their antics.

It makes a mockery to our justice system when petty and ordinary citizens are immediately arrested and put on the torture of remand order but when it comes to the turn of the Police who are the obvious criminals, the whole justice system comes to their rescue and protects them. No doubt the Attorney General and the Inspector General of Police are insulting the confidence given to them by the Constitution and the Yang Dipertuan Agong.

P. Waytha Moorthy
Chairman HINDRAF
from Banglore.