Religious dept just as lost as Indira

NST, April 29 2009

IPOH: Even the Perak religious department claims to be in the dark on the whereabouts of K. Patmanathan, also known as Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah since his conversion to Islam on March 11.

Ipoh district police chief Assistant Commissioner Azisman Alias said Mohd Ridzuan last contacted religious officers on Friday, the day after the cabinet decided that children be raised according to the faith of their parents at the time of marriage, should a spouse decide to convert.

Mohd Ridzuan is believed to be keeping 1-year-old Prasana Diksa, despite the High Court granting interim custody to his wife, Indira Gandhi, early last week.

The religious department later reported that the syariah court had also granted interim custody of their children to Mohd Ridzuan two weeks earlier.

Azisman said the department told the police that it would be referring the matter to the state legal adviser, as the High Court order was in conflict with the order from the syariah court.
"They have to wait for instructions on which court order to follow."

Azisman said police were still monitoring Mohd Ridzu-an's house and his mother's house in Pasir Puteh, pointing out that he was still under police bail. But they would not arrest or force him to surrender Prasana Diksa to Indira.

"We will just inform the wife or the religious department," he said, adding that the court order was only for the police to assist in the matter.

Perak religious department director Datuk Mohamah Nor Mansor and state legal adviser Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid could not be contacted for comment.

On the failure to locate Mohd Ridzuan, Ipoh Barat member of parliament M. Kulasegaran alleged that there were parties who were keeping the 40-year-old father in a "safe place" to sabotage efforts to serve him the court order.

When contacted yesterday, Indira said there was no news of her estranged husband, despite having pasted 5,000 posters of him and her daughter in various parts of the country.

"There were some people who also volunteered to put up more posters in Penang."

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The Star

Wednesday April 29, 2009

Indira gets many calls offering hope

IPOH: She put out the call, asking for information on her missing infant, but all that kindergarten teacher M. Indira Gandhi is getting now are calls offering encouragement.

Indira, 34, who on Monday headed a poster campaign to look for her estranged husband K. Patmanathan, 40, and year-old daughter Prasana Diksa, said the calls did not provide information on the duo’s whereabouts.

“The callers give words of encouragement and told us not to give up hope in our search for them,” she said when contacted here yesterday.

“I thank the callers for their encouragement but we really need information on my baby’s whereabouts,” she said, noting that there were also calls for the posters to be distributed to other states.

Her lawyer M. Kulasegaran said following the putting up of the posters, they had received at least 15 calls.

“I would say the response has been good,” he said.

“The family is, however, happy that something is being done to help locate the infant,” he said.

Kulasegaran believed that Patmanathan and Prasana are in Ipoh and that they are being “protected” by someone to sabotage the Ipoh High Court’s order.

The Ipoh High Court had on April 24 given Indira interim custody of her three children and an injunction preventing Patmanathan from entering their home.

On Perak Mufti Datuk Seri Harusani Zakaria’s recent statement that Patmanathan had received an interim order from the Syariah Court to keep Prasana, Kulasegaran said it was against the Cabinet’s directive.