<B>By Deepa BHOOKHUN</B>

?A man has died in police custody.? Read that sentence again? Think it over? Do you think it is normal? Ok! I do not mean to insult you. You were probably as horrified, as I was, to learn that a suspect in a murder case was arrested and kept in police custody and then sent unconscious to hospital where he died a few hours later.

But are you horrified enough? Or do you think, ?Oh well, he was a murderer anyway, shame the ill-treatment went that far?? Or worse, ?this should send a message to other murderers?? If those thoughts have crossed your mind, please think again. It?s very important.

We have all heard reports on police brutality. Sometimes we pay heed to them, most of the time we don?t because we simply do not feel concerned enough. But we either believe in a country where the rule of law takes precedence or we don?t. We either believe in our justice system or we don?t.

A person is presumed innocent until he is proven guilty by a court of law. Full stop! If a police officer believes the person is guilty as hell, the burden of proof is on him. A police officer does not get to wear a uniform so that he can administer justice in the most primitive way. A police officer is a guardian of the peace. Sometimes he is an investigator. It is his job to find culprits, to investigate and to bring that person to justice.

When he does that, he will bring a man and evidence - unchallengeable evidence - to the court so that this person is put away, if found guilty. It is up to the prosecution to make sure that the court does not doubt the evidence, that the defense cannot challenge the evidence. How does he get this evidence? That?s what he?s paid to do. He most certainly showed not take it upon himself to beat up a suspect to get a confession.

For too long we have heard the excuse - ?the police has a job to do? - when confronted with allegations of police violence. What are they going to tell us this time? How can the police force justify that a man - suspect or not - has died in their custody while he was under the protection of the Mauritius Police Force? I don?t know whether it was a natural or an unnatural death. The autopsy report says the man died following ?intra-cranial hemorrhage of traumatic nature?. We all saw those horrific photos in the press, we all wondered about the bruises on the man?s soles. So I ask the question: what caused the trauma? Withdrawal from alcohol fits, says the police.

I don?t know - maybe I am too ignorant - but somebody needs to explain if one hemorrhages to death if one badly needs alcohol. I didn?t think so? but hey!

The point is: there has been a death while the person was in police custody. We now need to establish whether it was murder. And if it was, then? I don?t know. But we?re watching this space. And I hope to God that no unnatural death -especially in police custody - will go unaccounted for in this country. This question will have to be answered and soon. Was it a natural death or? was it murder?