May 04, 2007
KUALA LUMPUR (AP): A Malaysian couple and their son have been charged in connection with the death of an Indian migrant worker, whom they allegedly tortured at their home, the defendants' lawyer said Friday.
The sauce factory owner, his wife and their 20-year-old son pleaded not guilty Thursday to unintentionally causing the death of R. Ganesh, lawyer K. Supramaniam said. If convicted, they facea maximum of 20 years in jail.
Ganesh, a 28-year-old migrant worker from India's southern Tamil Nadu state, died of starvation in hospital on April 27, three days after villagers found him severely starved and bruised in a remote jungle in northern Kedah state.
T. Rajan, his wife M. Ganeswari and their son Vijaar are accused of unintentionally causing Ganesh's death by using a stick, a cane and a metal chain at their home in northern Penang state between Feb. 5 and April 10, Supramaniam said.
Police have said Ganesh was allegedly beaten up by his employer and family, had hot water poured over him and was chained without food for 20 days before being dumped in Kedah.
The Butterworth Sessions Court in Penang state ordered the three defendants to post 10,000-ringgit (US$2,900; euro2,100) bail each and their international passports to be impounded, Supramaniamsaid.
Ganesh's body was flown back to India and recovered by his family Thursday, newspaper reports said.
Malaysia employs some 1.8 million registered foreign workers from various countries, and there have been occasional cases of mistreatment.
Rights groups have complained that migrant workers, mostly Indonesians, do not receive adequate protection from abusive employers because of insufficient laws governing employer conductin Malaysia, a wealthy Southeast Asian nation of 26 million. (**)
