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A youth of Indian descent yesterday lost his lengthy legal battle to seek a public apology and compensation from a policeman he accused of giving him nightmares over his arrest on racial grounds.
The District Court ruled that Arjun Singh, 17, had failed to prove that he was discriminated against when he was arrested by Constable Hung Kai-kam over a dispute with a middle-aged Chinese woman at Wan Chai MTR station on January 6, 2010.
The case, which raised questions about how police handled ethnic minorities, centred on an encounter between Singh, who was then 11 and a student prodigy, and Chan Yuet-lai. The boy bumped into her when rushing past her on an escalator.
Chan grabbed Singh and accused him of assault, while the boy claimed she had damaged his sweater and injured him.
Hung, who attended the scene, was accused by the boy and his mother of favouring Chan’s account of events based on her race. Singh was subsequently arrested, though neither he nor the woman were charged.
The 16-day trial, originating from a 2011 court writ, looked at issues such as whether Singh’s arrest was a result of due investigation, and if he had been detained longer than was allowed.
In a 214-page ruling, acting chief district judge Justin Ko King-sau wrote that although Singh and his mother, Anita, were honest witnesses in court, they were not reliable, citing in particular the boy’s “faulty recollections”.
Singh’s solicitor, Michael Vidler, said: “The boy is clearly disappointed.”
He said Singh, a second-year physics student at King’s College London, might consider an appeal.
The judge wrote that Hung had spent a good 40 minutes investigating the matter before he made the arrest.
CCTV footage, he said, showed the constable had spoken to Singh and his mother, leading him to conclude that Singh’s complaints had not gone ignored.
The judge noted that other police officers had later looked into Singh’s complaints against Chan.
But the judge found it “perplexing” that police officers were only trained to caution suspects in Cantonese. Hung testified earlier that this was why he had taken Singh to the police station for an interpreter.
The judge also weighed in on the alleged dispute between Singh and Chan, writing: “I do not believe him to be aggressive, rude and vengeful as portrayed in Madam Chan’s statement.”
Singh has 28 days to file an appeal.
(SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST)
