PUTRAJAYA (March 22): In a landmark judgement, the Federal Court here ruled today for the first time that the Malaysian government is required to award aggravated damages to the next of kin of a person who dies while in police custody.

However, the court also ruled that the next of kin is not entitled to exemplary damages following the death of their relative while in police custody.

Malaysia’s highest court decided on the matter today after hearing the case involving former lorry driver P Chandran, who died in police custody in Kuala Lumpur in 2012 after his medical needs were not attended to.

Today, the seven-member Federal Court bench led by Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Rohana Yusuf decided that the family of Chandran is entitled to get aggravated damages amounting to RM200,000 but not exemplary damages of the same quantum that was awarded earlier by the High Court and upheld by the Court of Appeal.

The seven-member Federal Court bench included Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Federal Court Judges Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli, Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof, Datuk Seri Hasnah Mohammed Hashim, Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang and Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan.

Judges who agreed with Rohana’s decision today included Abang Iskandar, Abdul Rahman, Zabariah, Hasnah and Rhodzariah.

Nallini, meanwhile, upheld the earlier decisions by the High Court and the Court of Appeal to award the exemplary damages to Chandran’s family.

The exemplary damages amounted to RM200,000.

Today, Rhodzariah wrote the Federal Court’s ruling, which was arrived at based on decisions by the majority of judges on the seven-member bench.

Following the Federal Court ruling today, Chandran’s widow Selvi Narayan and daughter Rita will get total compensation amounting to RM357,000 due to Chandran’s death while in police custody at the Dang Wangi police station in 2012.

The compensation comprises RM200,000 in aggravated damages, loss of dependency compensation amounting to RM144,000, besides RM10,000 for bereavement and RM3,500 in special damages, according to the Federal Court.

Previously, the High Court and the Court of Appeal did not award aggravated damages to Chandran's family.

In legal context, aggravated damages refer to special and highly-exceptional compensation awarded to a plaintiff when a defendant's conduct leads to humiliating and malicious circumstances for the plaintiff.

Meanwhile, exemplary damages or punitive damages aim to punish a defendant for wrongful conduct and deter the defendant from repeating the offence.

Representing Selvi and Rita were lawyers led by M Visvanathan, while senior federal counsel Andi Razalijaya A Dadi appeared for the police and government.

Chandran's family had named five police officers, the inspector-general of police (IGP) and the Malaysian government as defendants in the legal action following Chandran’s death. 

Previously, the Sessions Court inquest led the court to rule that the police officers were responsible for Chandran’s death because they did not provide Chandran with timely medical assistance, according to news reports.

It was reported that a post-mortem revealed that Chandran died from hypertensive heart disease due to the absence of timely medical assistance. 

It was reported that the police only discovered Chandran’s death 12 hours after he died in the lock-up at the Dang Wangi police station.

According to news reports, the High Court in January 2017 found the police guilty of Chandran’s death as the police did not attend to Chandran's medical needs in a timely manner.

In 2019, the Court of Appeal affirmed the High Court's decision that Selvi and Rita were entitled to receive compensation because Chandran’s death was due to the police’s negligence and abuse of public office, news reports indicated.