On Oct 10, the Dewan Rakyat was told that 237 of those in police custody died last year, at an average of 19.8 deaths per month. Up to July, there were 188 deaths in prison, or a monthly average of 26.9.

There were 16 deaths in police lock-ups, including that of R Sunderaju (32), Utayamaran (33), Vivashanupillai (24), S Tharma Rajen (19), M Ragupathy (24), Ahmad Salleh (42), A.Subramanium (27), Kannan Kanthan (45), Prakash Moses and Syed Fadzil Said Hamzah (21).

In August, Ho Kwai See (a 28-year-old coconut trader) died at the Sungai Buloh prison after a week under police detention. This was followed by the deaths of M Ulaganathan (19), in July and G Veerasamy (52) in November.

(Please note that these numbers do not take into consideration the number of 'suspects' shot dead by police.)

The life of any human being is precious, not only to the family, but also in the eyes of God. No one wants convicted criminals to go unpunished. But the police need to uphold the rights of suspects, especially those in their custody. Everyone has the right to a fair trial to be charged in court, to have a lawyer, and to be heard before a judge.

Our police seem to have given themselves the option of carrying out a 'trial', make judgements and follow through with a death sentence. The number of custodial deaths is horribly shocking. It seems as if we are in the midst of an epidemic. The police must be held accountable and explain why such cruelty is taking place.

The more recent death was that of Ni Cung (aged 35) from Kem Tahanan Lenggeng in November. On Dec 10, Yogeswaran (aged 22) was arrested and died the next day in Ayer Tawar while in custody. The family is in the process of taking legal action.

But what are legislators doing about this? Isn't it a shame that - while we are all talking about transparency, accountability, war against corruption, and justice for all - people continue to die in police lock-ups? Who is going to explain this to Yogeswaran's parents, brothers and sisters?

We hold the police, Home Ministry and the prime minister entirely responsible for the present situation.