Kula to file contempt proceedings against IGP

 

Lawyer M Kulasegaran said he will proceed to file a case to cite inspector-general of police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar for contempt of court over a child custody case.

This is for failing to carry out several orders from the Ipoh High Court in relation to the interfaith custody battle, where the Ipoh Barat MP is the lawyer for the mother M Indira Gandhi.

The court orders include a committal order, an arrest warrant for Indira’s ex-husband K Pathmanathan @ Muhd Ridhuan Abdullah and a recovery order for the child Prasana Diksa.

Speaking at a press conference in Ipoh today with his client, Kulasegan chided the IGP as perhaps the only IGP in the world who would refuse to execute a warrant of arrest, and said Indira’s predicament could easily be solved if the Khalid (above) would just enforce the court orders.

There would be no need for the attorney-general (AG) to intervene either if the orders were enforced, he added.

“Today, after five long years of pain and sufferings and having obtained a court order for the child to be returned to her, Indira’s agony and trauma are not yet over due to the inaction of the IGP, the wrong advice of the prime minister and the wrong action of the AG," he said.

"The IGP Khalid has refused to enforce the committal order, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has advised that the case be brought to the Federal Court, while the attorney-general (AG) Abdul Gani Patail wants to apply to intervene in both the civil and syariah courts and suspend their orders on the police,” he said in a statement today.

In the Indira’s case and a similar interfaith custody dispute in Seremban, the civil courts have awarded mothers the custody of the children overruling previous syariah court rulings that favoured the Muslim convert fathers.

The civil courts in both cases have also issued recovery orders for the children, which the police have refused to execute.

Blaming the purportedly conflicting court orders from the judicial  systems, Khalid said the police are caught in a dilemma over which court’s order to enforce.

“So we will not be enforcing either of the court orders. That is our stand,” he said.

This is despite the Ipoh court specifically ruling that its supercedes the syariah court's.

What of cabinet decision, Najib?

Meanwhile, Kula urged Najib to speak up on whether the cabinet still stands by its April 2009 decision on such custody disputes.

“Najib cannot keep silent on this issue. He must inform the public if his cabinet is still committed to the 2009 cabinet decision on unilateral conversions of minors and if so, when will the necessary law changes be tabled in Parliament.

“If his cabinet has abandoned the 2009 decision, the prime minister must explain to the people the reasons for the U-turn and how the government is going to resolve interfaith custody matters,” he said.

Citing the conflicting court orders from the judicial  systems, Khalid said the police are caught in   a dilemma over which court’s order to enforce.

“So we will not be enforcing either of the court orders. That is our stand,” he said.

In 2009, the cabinet decided in response to Indira’s plight that unilateral conversion of minors should be not be allowed, and laws will be changed to reflect that.

To date, the necessary amendments have yet to be made and the government has dragged its feet over the matter.

Bar Council president Christopher Leong yesterday mused that the amendments may have been "quietly forgotten".