PUTRAJAYA, Oct 19 — The Court of Appeal rejected a family’s appeal today to set aside the High Court’s decision which dismissed their legal action against the government over police detainee P. Karuna Nithi’s 2013 death.
A three-member bench comprising Court of Appeal judges Datuk S. Nantha Balan, Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, and Datuk Choo Kah Sing unanimously decided that the originating summons by the family is the same as the one earlier filed at the Seremban High Court in 2018.
In February last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed the family’s second lawsuit, filed in 2021.
Reading out the decision, Justice Mohd Nazlan said that although the second suit tried a different approach by seeking relief over alleged contravention of fundamental rights under the Federal Constitution, it was still, in essence, seeking compensation from the government over Karuna Nithi’s death.
“In our judgment, while the cause of action for the second suit appears different from the first legal action, it is inaccurate to say the current suit would not be a matter of the earlier suit.
“Given the similarity of the two actions, the appellants (family) could have included the present claim in the earlier suit, but failed to do so. The court found that Section 2(a) of the Public Authorities Protection Act (PAPA) is not ultra vires Article 8 of Federal Constitution.
“Therefore, we dismiss the appeal with no order as to cost,” he said, adding that the legal principle of res judicata comes into effect in this case.
Res judicata is a legal maxim meaning a thing or matter that has been finally juridically decided on its merits and cannot be litigated again between the same parties.
Counsel T. Manoharan represented Karuna Nithi’s family, while senior Federal counsel Donald Joseph Franklin represented the 16 respondents, including policemen and the government.
Karuna Nithi’s widow R. Kaliamah and her two sons K. Yugesh Varan and K. Kisho Kumar filed the originating summons on January 26, 2021, against 16 defendants, including 14 policemen and the government, to compensate for Karuna Nithi’s death.
He was arrested on May 28, 2013, but died in custody on June 1, 2013, with 49 fresh injuries on his body.
In January 2015, the coroner’s open verdict ruled that Karuna Nithi’s death was due to several factors, including beatings by the police and other inmates, resulting in his sustaining 49 injuries.
Following an inquest, the family filed a suit for negligence and assault against the defendants for causing the death of the deceased at the High Court in Seremban on January 25, 2018.
However, the court dismissed the family’s suit because it was filed out of time in 2018, far longer than three years after Karuna Nithi died in custody in 2013. The Court of Appeal also maintained the decision.
The Federal Court in December 2020 also dismissed the family’s appeal because the suit was time-barred under Section 2(a) PAPA, as the cause of action should start from the date of the death of the deceased and not from the date of the inquest verdict.
— Bernama
