JOHOR BARU: The parents of a 21-year-old remand inmate want answers after their son was hospitalised just a week after they last visited him.
S. Pannir, 51, said he only learned of his son’s whereabouts after trying to visit him at Johor Baru Correctional Centre in Ulu Choh on Jan 23.
He was shocked to see his son, P. Jagdeeshraj, bruised and struggling to speak and breathe.
“I was told he was admitted to Hospital Sultanah Aminah (HSA) on Jan 21.
“I was devastated when I saw him. I had visited him the week before, and he was fine apart from a sore neck.
“But now, he’s bedridden, and I overheard the doctors saying he will need a ventilator to help him breathe,” he told a press conference near the hospital on Friday (Jan 31).
Pannir is now asking the Home Ministry to investigate.
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“I just want my son to be safe,” he said, adding that there is still no medical report on his son’s condition.
Activist S. Dayalan criticised the authorities for failing to inform the parents of their son’s whereabouts and for apparently withholding his medical report.
“He is only an accused person, not a convicted criminal, which is why he is in a correctional centre – not a prison.
“I hope the Home Ministry will step in so we can find out what happened to Jagdeeshraj,” he said.
The family’s lawyer M. Dinesh said that in the 11 days since Jagdeeshraj was hospitalised, neither the hospital nor the correctional centre issued any official statement about his condition.
“Every remand detainee, even a convicted prisoner, deserves basic human care.
“At the very least, there should be an official letter informing their next of kin about their condition, especially in cases of emergency hospitalisation such as this,” he said.
When contacted, a police official said the matter falls under the Prison Department. He also noted that the man was charged on Jan 4 last year in connection with a murder.
Two brothers were charged at a Magistrate’s Court here with the murder of a 25-year-old man following a fight that turned fatal.
Car wash worker Jagdeeshraj, then 20, and shop assistant P. Vasantharaj, 21, along with three others still at large, allegedly killed Muhammad Syafiq Abd Latif.
They were jointly charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder, which carries a death sentence or jail term of 30 to 40 years, and no fewer than 12 strokes of the cane, if found guilty.
