Court order served to arrest Muslim convert
The Malay Mail Online – 19 hours agoRELATED CONTENT
- Tevi Darsiny (left) and Karan Dinish comfort their mother Indira Gandhi, who holds …
IPOH, June 21 — The Ipoh district police department has been served with a court order directing police officers to apprehend a Muslim convert who failed to hand over custody of his daughter to his estranged Hindu wife.
The warrant of arrest, issued by High Court judge Justice Lee Swee Seng on May 30, was served at the district police headquarters yesterday by lawyer M. Kulasegaran, who represents kindergarten teacher M. Indira Gandhi.
Kulasegaran also served a committal order issued by the High Court committing Indira’s ex-husband Muhammad Ridzuan Abdullah — formerly known as K. Pathmanathan — to the Tapah prison until he returns the couple’s six-year-old daughter Prasana Diksa to her mother.
He said the same court order had been served to the Kota Baru district police headquarters in Kelantan, where Ridzuan is believed to be residing with Prasana Diksa — now known as Ummu Habibah.
Speaking at a press conference at his office after handing over the documents, Kulasegaran said it was now up to the police to carry out the court’s orders.
“With all legal avenues exhausted, we now leave the fate of Prasana Diksa to the police who should have no problem apprehending Mohd Ridzuan and sending him to the Tapah prison until he delivers Prasana Diksa to her mother.
“The speed at which the police have acted in assisting the Jabatan Agama Islam in Penang and Selangor recently, gives us much hope that his apprehension will be carried out without further delay,” he said.
“However, if the police refuse to act on the court orders, we will make the necessary applications in court to compel obedience, including contempt of court.”
Yesterday’s action comes after Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar was served with a court order directing police to locate and hand over Prasana three days ago.
According to previous reports, Indira obtained the order last week after Khalid said police would not act on orders from either the civil or Shariah court in interfaith custody cases, claiming that police were sandwiched between the two court systems.
In 2009, Ridzuan was granted custody of Prasana and the couple’s two older children, Tevi Darsiny and Karan Dinish — then aged 12 and 11 — by a Shariah court after he unilaterally converted them.
However, the High Court overturned this decision and granted full custody to their mother in 2010, but Ridzuan has refused to surrender the youngest child, who was only 11 months old when he took her away.
On May 30, Justice Lee found Ridzuan guilty of contempt and gave him one week to hand over Prasana to Indira, or face imprisonment.
Ridzuan defied the order when he failed to hand over the child to Indira upon expiry of the deadline, which was at noon on June 6.
Perak police chief Datuk Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said yesterday the state police were still coordinating their operations with other contingents, which had been given a court order to locate the child.
