Malaysian man of Indian-origin sentenced to death for drug trafficking in Singapore
Singapore, Feb 5: A Malaysian man of Indian-origin has been sentenced to death by a court here for delivering heroin in Singapore and acting as a middleman for drug traffickers, according to a media report.
Kishor Kumar Raguan, 41, rode his motorcycle into Singapore to deliver a bag containing more than 900 grams of a powdery substance in July 2016. The four bundles inside the bag brought in were later analysed to contain 36.5 grams of heroin.
The law provides for the death penalty if the amount of heroin trafficked is more than 15 grams.
Singaporean national of Chinese-origin Pung Ah Kiang, 61, who received the bag from Raguan, was sentenced to life imprisonment for possessing the drugs for the purpose of trafficking.
In written grounds released on Friday, High Court Justice Audrey Lim said she found that both Raguan and Pung knew that the bundles contained heroin, The Straits Times newspaper reported on Friday.
Rejecting Raguan's defence that he believed the bag contained "stones", the judge said the Indian-origin man, who was involved in drug activities, had failed to show that he genuinely believed the bundles contained something innocuous.
She found that Kishor was told that the items to be delivered were "kallu", which he knew referred to heroin.
Justice Lim also rejected Pung's claim that he did not know what was in the bag and was merely keeping it temporarily for his brother-in-law.
She imposed life imprisonment on Pung as he was certified by the prosecution to have substantively assisted the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) in disrupting drug trafficking activities, the report said.
"As the prosecution did not issue Kishor with a certificate of substantive assistance... I passed the mandatory death sentence on him," it quoted the judge as saying.
Raguan had brought the bag containing the bundles of drugs into Singapore on July 29, 2016, and delivered it to Pung near his Paya Lebar condominium.
Pung was arrested by CNB officers as he was walking back to his condominium. He was then escorted to his home, where more drugs were found.
Raguan's DNA was found on the bundles he delivered to Pung. The prosecution contended that Raguan knew he was delivering "kallu" - a street name for heroin - and was told to collect Singapore dollars 6,000 from Pung.
The prosecution said Raguan was no stranger to illegal drugs as he had acted as a middleman for drug transactions.
In his defence, Raguan said he was promised USD 160 to deliver something to Singapore and was told that the item was "like a stone". He claimed that he thought they could either be decorative stones or rocks and pebbles, but did not think too much about it.
The convict claimed that he unravelled the black tape of the bundles but did not recognise the "brown-coloured things" inside.
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PIL in SC seeking action against racial violence targeting northeastern citizens
New Delhi (PTI): A PIL was filed in the Supreme Court seeking judicial intervention to address the "continuing constitutional failure" to prevent and respond to racial discrimination and violence against citizens from northeastern states and other frontier regions.
The PIL was filed on December 28 in the backdrop of the brutal killing of Anjel Chakma, a 24-year-old MBA student from Tripura, who succumbed on December 27 to grievous injuries sustained in a racially motivated attack in Selaqui area of Dehradun.
Anjel from Unakoti district's Machmara went to Dehradun after completing his graduation in Holy Cross School, Agartala, to pursue MBA, where he was stabbed to death in the presence of his younger brother Michael.
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The family members of Chakma want capital punishment or at least life imprisonment for all the accused involved in the incident. Anoop Prakash Awasthi, a Delhi-based lawyer, has made the Centre and all the states and Union territories as parties to the PIL.
"That the present writ petition is being filed seeking issuance of writ under Article 32 of the Constitution seeking issuance of writ in the nature of mandamus, order, direction or any other appropriate writ for the violation of fundamental rights as under article 14, 19 (1) a & (g) and 21, and thus seeking judicial intervention to address the issue of racial discrimination and violence against Indian citizens from the north-eastern states and other frontier regions of India," the plea said.
"We are Indians. What certificate should we show to prove that?" words that tragically became the last recorded assertion of Anjel Chakma about his constitutional belonging before the confrontation escalated into brutal violence, it said while recounting the offence leading to his death.
The plea referred to media reports about Chakma's death.
The attackers allegedly assaulted and stabbed both brothers and Chakma sustained severe injuries to his neck and spine, remained unconscious throughout his treatment, and died after more than fourteen days in intensive medical care, it said, adding his death triggered widespread anguish, protests, and demands for justice across the country.
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"Issue an appropriate writ (ad interim till a legislation is made) in the nature of formulating comprehensive guidelines, recognising 'racial slur' as a separate category of hate crimes and determining punishment for the same," the plea said.
It sought a direction to the Centre and the states to create a "nodal agency or a permanent body or commission or directorate" at the central level as well as at the level of each state where such racial crimes can be reported and redressed.
"Direct the respondents at central level as well as at the level of each state to make and create a dedicated special police unit in each district/metropolitan area to address the racial crimes," it said.
The plea sought a direction to the Centre and the states to organise "workshops and debates at educational institutes on the issue of prevailing racial discrimination and ways to redress the same".
The petition said that despite the unmistakable hate-based and racial motivation behind the crime, India's criminal justice system lacks any mechanism to recognise or record racial bias at the initial stage of investigation.
As a result, such offences are treated as ordinary crimes, "erasing motive, diluting constitutional gravity, and perpetuating a pattern of impunity", it said.
The plea said that the killing of Chakma is not an isolated incident but part of a long-standing pattern of racial abuse and violence against citizens from the northeastern states.
The petition recalls earlier cases, including the death of Nido Taniam in 2014 and numerous assaults on students and workers in metropolitan cities, incidents that have been formally acknowledged by the Centre in parliamentary replies but, according to the petitioner, remain unaddressed through any dedicated legislative or institutional framework.
