KUALA LUMPUR – M. Kula Segaran (Ipoh Barat-PH) has called for an independent probe into an incident at Sg Buloh Prison which saw an inmate’s family wrongfully notified of their son’s death, leading to them almost cremating the body of his cellmate.
The DAP lawmaker urged the government to investigate the matter, asserting that “negligent” officers must face the brunt of the law after the emotional stress imposed on the two families involved.
“How did the mix-up even happen? How was the death registered and the death certificate produced?
“In prison, all the inmates are assigned identification numbers; how is it possible that a person who was still alive could be said to be dead?” he questioned in Parliament today during his debate on Budget 2023.
Noting that he had met both the families involved in the incident, Kulasegaran queried whether the government would be willing to express its regrets to the affected families and compensate them for the money they had lost throughout the ordeal.
Yesterday, it was reported that a mourning family in Negri Sembilan were shocked to find out that their son, who prison authorities said had died while in custody at Sg Buloh Prison on Tuesday (February 28), was actually very much alive.
The family was notified of the apparent death on Friday, following which they collected what they then believed to be the 19-year-old’s body from Sg Buloh Hospital the next day. They then spent about RM20,000 on funeral arrangements, including cremation costs.
Just as the body was about to be cremated at a Tampin crematorium, prison authorities contacted the family via a video call to show that their son was alive and well in his cell.
The family patriarch, who only wished to be known as Chantren, 45, said he had noticed that the body did not resemble his son, but had attributed the discrepancies to post-mortem changes.
It was reported earlier today that the deceased’s mother, Thilagam, was informed yesterday that her 18-year-old son had been rushed to Sungai Buloh Hospital. Upon her arrival there, she was then directed to the mortuary where a prison officer told her that her son had actually died three days ago.
The woman who lives in Sentul also said that while she was notified about the mix-up over the body, her visit to the hospital this morning only caused further frustrations as hospital authorities refused to release the body, saying that a DNA test must be done first.
The Prisons Department has yet to issue any statement on the incident. – The Vibes, March 6, 2023
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