STOP THESE SHAMEFUL POLICE PROCEDURES

With an effort to amend the Constitution going on, we might as well
propose the deletion of Article 39. This article states that a suspect
or defendant in a criminal case is presumed innocent, and that before
the court convicts a person, he cannot be treated as a convict.

This right has been repeatedly violated, and no one raises the issue.
A case in point is the recent police news conference in which a drug
suspect was thrown before a pack of reporters who had a field day
abusing him verbally. The suspect dropped his head in disgrace, but a
four-star police general gently pushed the man's chin up to face the
snarling wolves. He even touched-up the suspect's tousled hair.

A lot of you may argue that the man confessed to the crime so he
deserved the abuse. Well, in that case, add to Article 39: "If a
suspect has confessed, he is considered guilty and can be subject to
public ridicule and lynching."

Meechai Burapa

Chiang Mai