Molten Wax and Hosepipe Beatings Torture in relation to the existing culture of violence in society
by Prema Devaraj
According to a newspaper article “Hotel Worker Wins Suit Against Cop” (STAR 9/8/02), a young man was tortured in police custody – molten wax was dripped onto his private parts, newspapers shoved into his mouth, and he was beaten with a hosepipe 156 times by one person and 54 times by another person. He filed a brutality suit against a police officer and the federal government. The court found both defendants liable for assault and awarded him a total of RM 14,042. This article discusses torture in relation to the existing culture of violence in society, the use of it by state authorities (the police) and court awards in brutality suits.
i) Torture and the Culture of Violence
As defined by Article 1 of the UN Declaration Against Torture 1975, torture means “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted by or at the instigation of a public official on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person, information or confession, punishing him for an act he has committed, or intimidating him or other persons”.
Torture is a gross violation of human rights and a severe affront to human dignity.
So how does this happen? In a society where violence is often used to exert power and control and has become an acceptable form of behaviour, torture is just a step away. Violence actually begins with our own attitudes, the way we are brought up, the way we look at things. For instance, a child gets smacked at home for being naughty, a teenager gets slapped for being out late, a student gets caned in school for disobeying a school rule, gangs beat each other up over territory, a husband slaps his wife for answering back, people come to blows over a parking space or the riot police beat the crowd with their batons. It would seem that the only way to get what we want or to have our instructions followed is to inflict pain on the other person.
Violence has become so acceptable that sometimes people may even feel that when a suspect is caught he or she deserves what they call “knocking a little sense into them” or “shake them up a bit”. The trouble is when such attitudes are tolerated or even encouraged it actually encourages the police to use violence. From here, it is not such a huge step for them to use torture.
ii) Torture and the Police Force
Nobody denies that police work and detective work is hard and very often goes unappreciated. There are no short cuts. It takes time and patience to build up a case. But no matter how terrible the crime committed it does not justify another crime, that of torture, to find evidence to convict a suspect. Professional police personnel do not have to use torture to do their work.
Torture in police custody is in direct violation of the Article 3 of the UN Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 1975 which states,
A website search for “torture and police” produced over several hundred thousand sites. Allegations of torture have been made against many governments, including USA, United Kingdom, China, Russia, Bosnia, India and Turkey. There have often been rumours of ill treatment in Malaysian police lock-ups. Apart from the particularly high profile case of the ex-DPM, the rest remain largely unclear. Hard questions need to be asked. Is torture a standard practise in lock-ups? Is it taught during police training? Is it only meted out to those who have little social or financial standing? Is it dependant on ethnicity? Is it authorised? How much covering up goes on?
Recently, over a period of 6 to 7 weeks, there have been three deaths, all allegedly in police custody. The persons who have died are 19-year-old Ragubathy a/l Muniandy, 20-year-old Tharmarajen a/l Subramaniam and 24-year-old Vivashanu Pillai. The Malaysian Human Rights Report 1999 (SUARAM) estimates 293 individuals were killed in Malaysian immigration and police detention centres between 1997 and May 1999. Have we already slipped down the slippery slope with regards to human rights abuses by the police?
According to a web-site http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1338417.stm, the Mexican Government is trying to tackle its reputation as one of the world’s worst human rights abusers by holding a “counter-torture” course for police. The course is targeted at officials who deal with alleged offenders after they have been arrested and the basic aim is to stop the police from using torture as one of their main tools for investigation. The course content covers the limits of what is and is not appropriate in the treatment of suspects and how to recognise the signs of abuse when police have gone too far. In addition, the course notes cover the legal definition of torture, the international conventions concerning torture, and the physical and psychological symptoms of torture. Police officials are made aware that “the phenomenon of torture runs counter to the procurement of justice”. Simply put, the ends do not justify the means.
While not expecting things to change overnight with a single course, an acknowledgement of police brutality by the government and an attempt to address the problem, are at the very least, steps in the right direction. Amnesty International has a 12 point program for the Prevention of Torture by Agents of the State, which includes condemning torture, ensuring access to prisoners, no secret detention, providing safeguards during interrogation and custody and prohibiting torture in law. See http://www.amnestyusa.org/stoptorture/12pointprogram.html for details.
iii) Torture and Court Awards
People generally go to the courts to get justice. When a court awards damages to a victim in a brutality suit, the award must compensate for the pain, suffering and humiliation undergone by the victim, as well as send a message to the torturers and the organisation they represent that their actions are wrong and unacceptable. The amount of the award should reflect the seriousness by which the court views the offence. It should reflect the recognition of the violation of a person’s basic human rights as well as the serious abuse of power that took place in police custody, a place where people are technically meant to be safe.
Tackling police brutality is not an easy task. Nevertheless as a start, our government must acknowledge its existence and take the necessary steps to curb such abuses. There needs to be widespread education of the public of what goes on in our police cells. There also needs to be a culture which clearly says that such conduct is not acceptable. For this we must be willing to confront our own attitudes towards violence so that the culture of violence in our society is no longer acceptable. It is a long journey and through it all justice must be properly served when such abuses are highlighted.
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