A Hindu devotee who sustained lacerations on his forehead while trying to stop DBKL (city hall) officials from destroying a Hindu temple on Thursday claimed he was 'forced' to declare that his injuries were self-inflicted.

P Velu, 30, claimed that the police forced him to admit that the wounds were self inflicted, failing which they would go to his home to harm him.

Even though he was unable to read Bahasa and was bleeding heavily at the time, Velu maintained that he refused to admit the charge but reluctantly signed three sheets of paper not read out to him.

"They threatened me into signing it without explaining to me what it was for. They claimed that I inflicted the injuries on my head myself but I did not. They kept telling me 'you hit yourself, you hit yourself' all the way to the police station," said a solemn Velu.

He was among 15 individuals, including two lawyers, who tried to stop an early morning temple demolition exercise in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur.

The 60-year-old Muniswarar Alayam temple is located in the path of the soon-to-be completed Damansara-Ulu Kelang Expressway (Duke).

Stitches required

Five were detained at the Setapak police station after the incident and freed on the same day. Velu however required three stitches

Among those arrested was Parti Keadilan Rakyat deputy youth chief S Manikavasagam, who in a police report lodged at the Sentul district police headquarters today claimed that Velu was hit on the forehead with a pair of handcuffs by a plainclothes policeman.

A copy of the police report was made available to malaysiakini. The same report also claims that Sentul police chief Mohd Rodzi Ismail's insistence that the wounds were self-inflicted, as reported by the media, were false.

In another police report lodged today, Velu claimed that the police personnel who inflicted the wounds on his head was the one seen dragging him away on pictures published by the Tamil press (left).

Also present at yesterday's press conference was lawyer P Uthayakumar who was also arrested during the incident. He claimed he was initially denied from making a police report while under detention.

"We have a right to make a first information report because we are the victims, whereas they (the police) lodged a report making themselves look like the victims before we could," he said.

Suhakam criticised

Manikavasagam also took a swipe at Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) for not responding to past memorandums regarding temple demolitions in Shah Alam, Sri Damansara and Setapak.

He argued that temple demolitions should be of concern to Suhakam as it was a violation of Article 11 of the Federal Constitution which grants freedom of religion.

"We urged the Suhakam commissioner Choo Siew Kioh to talk to DBKL about this matter. Their office is only across the road but yet they did nothing," he told reporters.

Another lawyer M Manoharan said that the police have gotten their priorities wrong and not investigated DBKL over the matter.

He added that Hindu devotees affected by Thursday's demolition would be seeking compensation for injuries and grief suffered from both DBKL and the police.

"We are asking for a sum of RM2 million. First for destroying a place of worship and secondly for general, aggravated and exemplary damages," he said.