KUALA LUMPUR: The police have been urged to continue probing the alleged assault of a deaf-mute e-hailing driver by a VVIP's bodyguard.
This comes after the disabled man lodged second a report stating that the matter had been resolved and that he did not want to prolong the matter.
Earlier, Bukit Aman police criminal investigation department director Datuk Seri Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain confirmed the cops were probing the alleged assault.
This followed the driver's first police report on the incident.
"We remind the authorities that there is no such thing as a 'settlement' of a criminal case between the perpetrator and victim of any incident involving a criminal act," said Lawyers for Liberty director Zaid Malek.
"Once the police receive information regarding commission of an offence, they are duty-bound to investigate the matter," he said jn a statement.
Zaid said Section 3(3) of the Police Act 1967 requires the police to preserve peace and security, prevent and detect crime, and apprehend and prosecute offenders.
"This duty cannot be disregarded simply because a police report was filed settling or retracting the initial report of the crime.
"If this was allowed, then those in power can exert it to coerce any report filed against them to be retracted."
Zaid said such a situation would lead to the "breakdown" of the country's criminal justice system.
He said Article 8 of the Federal Constitution provided for equality before the law and that no one can escape justice regardless of status or their connections.
"We demand that the police continue its investigation on this matter," Zaid said, adding the case involved public interest.
Yesterday, in a police report that has since gone viral, the victim claimed to have been punched by the bodyguard of a member of a royal family after he was asked to move his car while waiting at the lobby of a five-star hotel at KL Sentral.
