Indira Gandhi case ruling sets worrying precedent, says lawyer

Malay Mail

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 17 — The Court of Appeal’s decision not to enforce a mandamus order on the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) in a child custody tussle raises concern that any civil servant can choose to ignore a court order, the lawyer for M. Indira Gandhi said today.

M. Kulasegaran, who represented Indira in her bid to be reunited with her daughter who was snatched by her convert ex-husband five years ago, said the court “seems to have failed to appreciate” that the IGP is legally bound to abide by the Police Act and enforce a court order without question.

“By saying that the IGP has discretion in the court is sending a message that any civil servant can question a court order and need not adhere to it,” he said in a statement.

Earlier today, the appellate court in a 2-1 majority ruling dismissed Indira’s bid to compel the IGP to recover her six-year-old daughter, stating that a mandamus order cannot be enforced in a civil dispute.

“The order cannot be issued where only the right of an individual is taken into account,” Court of Appeal Judge Datuk Abdul Aziz Abd Rahim said when reading out the majority decision.

Abdul Aziz noted that even without the police, Indira still has the option of hiring the court bailiff to recover her daughter.

Kulasegaran today maintained his argument that Indira is left without any remedy to her predicament as there is little that the bailiff can do to help her if she is unable to locate her ex-husband, Mohd Ridzuan.

Kulasegaran, who is also DAP’s Ipoh Barat MP, stressed that it is the IGP who has access to the necessary resources to find Mohd Ridzuan, whose location remains unknown to Indira.

Five years ago, Indira was separated from her daughter Prasana Diksa, then an 11-month-old toddler, when Mohd Ridzuan ran off with the child.

Mohd Ridzuan later unilaterally converted all their three children to Islam and obtained a custody order in the Shariah court for all three.

In the long drawn-out child custody battle, Indira won full custody of her three children in the Ipoh High Court in 2010, with the same civil court issuing a recovery order in her favour.

Lee had also nullified the Shariah court’s custody order and subsequently issued the mandamus order compelling the IGP to act.

On May 30, the civil court also cited Mohd Ridzuan for contempt of its custody order and issued a warrant to arrest and jail him, unless he gave up the child that he had taken away in 2009.

Mohd Ridzuan’s bid to appeal against the High Court’s custody order in favour of Indira was previously dismissed in both the Court of Appeal and Federal Court.