Indira Gandhi's lawyer M Kulasegaran (left) told Malaysiakini it was rare for the court to issue such order but he was glad that Justice Lee Swee Seng had allowed it.“The application was done ex-parte. The former husband's lawyers have been informed about it,” he added.
“With this order, the police are required to find and bring back the girl. If they fail to do so, they have to state the reasons via an affidavit.
"With this, Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar will have to comply with the order and not propose something else,” he said.
On Tuesday, it was reported that Khalid had proposed a middle path to resolve such inter-faith child custody disputes by placing the children in childcare centres for both parents to visit until their cases are settled.
The Ipoh Barat MP also revealed the Ipoh police had also called Indira Gandhi and him for a meeting to resolve the issue following the solution proposed by the IGP.
“However, we turned down the meeting. We want the police to comply with the order for them to get back the child,” said Kulasegaran.
June 6 deadline
Yesterday's court order follows Indira Gandhi's former husband K Pathmanathan @ Mohd Ridhuan Abdullah’s failure to comply with the Ipoh High Court order dated May 30, for Ridhuan to return the five-year-old girl by June 6.
Ridhuan had been found guilty by Justice Lee of contempt of court for not returning the child, an order the court was willing to revoke, should the father return Prasana Diksa or her Muslim name Ummu Habibah, to Kulasegaran or the mother by that time.
On May 30, Justice Lee also ruled that the civil High Court is superior to the syariah High Court and declared the latter’s order which granted custody of Prasana Diksa to Ridhuan, to be declared null and void.
Besides
Prasana Diksa, the couple have a son and a daughter, who were also
converted by Ridhuan to Islam but they are now staying with the mother
following the Ipoh High Court order.It was reported that following Ridhuan's failure to return the child, Indira Gandhi had wanted her former husband to be arrested for contempt.
Khalid’s (right) ‘middle path’ to resolve inter-faith child custody disputes by placing the children in child care centres resulted in mounting criticism at the IGP from various quarters including BN and opposition politicians.
However the IGP reportedly said the police will stick to its position as it is 'sandwiched between' two jurisdictions of the syariah High Court and the civil High Court.
Several lawyers have argued that the police should follow the civil High Court order in such disputes.
