INFORM PARENTS’

the responsibility to do so as they were investigating the case.

He said the ministry submitted the report on Thaqif’s postmortem to the police last week.

“If the case did not involve any police investigation, we would have informed the boy’s parents.

“As it is a police case, it is up to them to inform the parents,” he said at the ministry’s Hari Raya open house yesterday.

On Monday, Thaqif’s mother Felda Wani Ahmad, 40, was reportedly shocked to learn that her son had died of leptospirosis as the latest post-mortem report had suggested.

She had said she did not receive any news from the ministry on the post-mortem results and that she planned to seek legal advice.

Dr Subramaniam said the parents had the right to take legal action.

“Our post-mortem was sciencebased and we followed every rule based on police investigation.

“Any information from the post-mortem will be used as evidence in court. Therefore, we can’t release such information to the public. Only the police can do that,” he said.

Dr Subramaniam said Thaqif ’s parents could come to discuss the matter with the ministry.

“We are willing to explain it to them,” he said.

He said the ministry would investigate the cause of the leptospirosis infection at Thaqif’s home, his school and the surrounding areas.

Thaqif, 11, was reportedly beaten with a rubber hose by his school’s assistant warden for making noise at a surau.

He was warded after experiencing excruciating pain in his legs on April 17. His legs were subsequently amputated on April 21, after which he slipped into a coma.

Thaqif died at Sultan Ismail Hospital in Johor Baru on April 26.