A Bangladeshi migrant worker in Malaysia yesterday filed a suit against the Malaysian authorities demanding three million Malaysian Ringgits (RM) in compensation for physical torture and wrongful incarceration.
Alamin Sheikh Badsha filed the suit with Penang High Court against the Malaysian government, immigration department director-general and investigation officer, inspector-general of police, the Penang police chief and the investigation officer, reported malaysiakini, a Malaysian news website, yesterday.
His lawyer S Raveentharan said at a press conference that Alamin also claimed compensation for “losing his manhood” due to whipping, loss of income of RM1,300 per month for the days he did not work, for depression and also RM25,000 a day for 90 days for wrongful imprisonment.
“I am still not aware of the matter but our legal workers should not be disturbed,” Labour Counsellor Mantu Kumar Biswas at the Bangladesh mission in Kuala Lumpur told the Dhaka Tribune over phone yesterday.
Alamin’s lawyer Raveentharan said the victim was jailed and had indeed suffered badly as he was deprived of his basic human rights as an individual.
“By bringing this matter to the High Court, we hope the court will see it fit to deliver justice to this innocent man,” he said.
Alamin was arrested and subsequently imprisoned by a Bukit Mertajam magistrate in Penang last year based on a false allegation that he did not have a valid work permit. But he had a work permit valid till July this year.
Alamin was caned on October 9 last year and was jailed from July 19 until Nov 18 upon pleading guilty.
The worker did not have a valid travel document and the work permit with him when he was stopped at a police roadblock in Bukit Mertajam on June 6 last year. His documents were with his employer.
The High Court in Penang on Oct 25 last year revised his case and set aside the conviction under Section 6(3) of the Malaysian Immigration Act.
Raveentharan said the HC Judge Zamani Abdul Rahim became surprised that the worker had already been caned and had his sentence completed.
Alamin is currently detained at the Langkap Immigration Detention Centre and his deportation is pending.
Raveentharan said it is believed that for cases involving deportation, the execution of a sentence on the wrongdoers or the designated individual to be punished would usually be carried out prior to the deportation to the respective countries and not otherwise.
He said this was “highly questionable” and there seemed to be an apparent and glaring “miscarriage of justice” suffered by Alamin.
“Justice hurried is justice buried? This man is innocent. The execution of the sentence was hurried, indeed for reasons only known to the Malaysian Crown officers, namely the Prisons Department and Police Department,” Raveentharan stated.
