Having six sisters and being the only son, M Ulaganathan was forced to drop out of school when he was in Form Four due to his father's illness.

On May 12, 2003, Ulaganathan, who was then 19, was helping his mother at their food stall in Balakong, Selangor, when the police arrested him over a murder case.

And after being detained for 69 days in the Kajang police lock-up, he returned home in a coffin.

Eleven years on, his mother Tamil Selwee, 56, is still looking for answers.

Unable to hold back her tears at a press conference today, she lamented that the police cannot find her son’s killers nor even give her a reason for his death.

In exchange, the state offered to pay her an undisclosed sum and that came only after human rights NGO Suaram and the Bar Council pressed her case through a civil suit against the police.

"What I have gone through, no one else should have to go through," she said in Tamil amid tears.

She saw her son four times after his detention and each time, his condition deteriorated. He had swollen eyes, bruised feet and legs, had lost weight and complained of sleep deprivation.

When she last saw him alive, Ulaganathan was unable to sit down to eat. A week later, he was hospitalised for fever, breathing difficulty and toothache. Discharged a day later, he vomited, had breathing difficulties and passed away at 2 am on July 21 , 2003.

Ulaganathan's death certificate reads that he had died ofb "unidentified causes", in effect granting police and the prison authorities total impunity from any charges.

Police abused the law

Ex-Suaram coordinator S Arutchelvan, who was also present at the press conference, believes that the police abused the Penal Code and Emergency Ordinance to detain the teenager for over two months without any charge to try and coax a confession out of him.

Later, some of Ulaganathan's friends were charged for the murder.

Arulchevan (left) said deaths in custody cases number over 100 and many were still unaccounted for. This year alone, Suaram counted eight people who have died under suspicious circumstances in police custody, five in lock-ups and three in prison.

In Ulaganathan's case, Arulchelvan pointed out that the teenager was cremated soon after his death, with no inquiry ordered.

"This is because the victim is not there to tell the truth. We asked for an inquest four days after his death, but that only came four years later," the Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) secretary-general added.

Fast forward another three years, the magistrate court handed out an "open verdict" on Aug 19, 2011, which means they could not find the true cause of Ulaganathan's death even after the inquiry.

Before this, the family had been verbally told by the police that he died of asthma even though Ulaganathan was never sick before.

Where is this country headed?

Another good Samaritan who took up Tamil's case was Roger Chan, a lawyer from Malaysian Bar's Human Rights Committee.

Chan helped the family file a civil case in the High Court against the police for negligence and recklessness in 2006, working free-of-charge as the family could not afford him.

In the 11 years, Tamil had to move house three times due to the lack of a stable income.

"The guidelines were not followed and the law was flouted," Chan told reporters, adding that an inquiry was called only a year after a civil lawsuit was filed.

"The inquiry was started only as an attempt to jeopardise our case," he said.

However, in 2008, the Kuala Lumpur High Court found the police guilty of an unlawful act, breach of statutory duties, recklessness as well as gross and wanton negligence.

But negotiation of a settlement, pending an appeal from the Attorney-General's office which was later dropped, took another six years.

On April 9, Tamil received compensation for her son. The settlement amount was private but Arulchelvan said that it amounted to no more than to help the mother buy a house.

"It looks bad on us. If you ask me, I don't know where this country is heading and we need to do something very fast," Chan said, pointing out that there were no fixes available when the police and the AG-office, both tasked to enforce the law, became lawbreakers themselves.

He said that even with the civil suit settlement, the guilty parties are not exonerated.

"Liability is still an issue. There are provisions under the law that should account for the death of somebody in custody. If you can't account, then there is going to be serious trouble," he added.

IPCMC is needed

Meanwhile, Suaram has renewed calls for the Independent Police Complaint and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), which was first mooted by a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on the police in 2005.

"We have never failed to push for IPCMC. The moment somebody is killed, the IPCMC should immediately come into play as an independent body," Suaram's director Kua Kia Soong said.

Kua said that after 25 years, cases such as Ulaganathan and others showed that Suaram still had its work cut out.

"In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult for Malaysian NGOs to receive grants because of the tight economic situation.

"As such, financial contributions from ordinary Malaysians are more vital than ever in ensuring the continuing existence of Suaram," Suaram's executive director Yap Swee Seng said.

The privately-funded Suaram hopes to raise RM200,000 to back its causes in 2014 through a fund-raising dinner on May 23 which will also auction away artworks contributed by famous artists.