Dear Editor,
The practice of locking people up for questioning has got to stop. Taking innocent people out of their beds at all hours and locking them up is inhumane and should be unlawful. Everyone is presumed innocent and by locking someone up you have already assumed the person guilty and have executed a partial sentence. We are not living under some dictatorship or other tyrannical government system where someone must prove their innocence.
A case in point is the recent exoneration of an Honorable MP who suffered the indignation of being ripped from the arms of his loved one, incarcerated for questioning only to be released and later acquitted of all charges after a judge ruled that he was merely doing his job. Who is going to restore this gentleman’s honor and remove the tainting from his name that was branded on his reputation? How are they going to compensate this man for the trauma he suffered from being deprived of his freedom, chained, and caged like a wild beast?
I agree that suspects of crimes must be questioned but innocent people cannot be locked up on mere suspicions. That is too wide a brush. When someone is incarcerated, they should have been convicted of a crime, not suspected of one. Any questioning that must be done should be completed by either questioning at the suspect's house or Police Station, but no one should be dragged out of their bed and held for questioning under the pretext that they might collude with other suspects or hide evidence.
Unless the suspect is caught with the proverbial smoking gun in his/her hand, witnessed in the act of committing a crime, or perceived to be an imminent danger to themselves or others, no one should be deprived of their freedom.
Author name withheld upon request.
