Path to reunite with daughter filled with empty promises: Indira Gandhi

KUALA LUMPUR – “If my name was Fatimah instead of Indira, don’t you think I would have been reunited with my daughter much earlier?”

M. Indira Gandhi posed the question during an interview with The Vibes recently, as she vented her frustrations with the authorities, especially outgoing Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador, for not being able to reunite her with daughter, Prasana Diksa, despite numerous promises to do so.

“It is very clear that racial and religious sentiments of the majority seem to prevail over almost everything in this country,” said the former kindergarten teacher over a video call.

“Imagine being unable to reunite with my daughter despite having a Federal Court decision, numerous court orders in favour of finding my daughter, along with five IGPs who have failed to do so since the beginning of this case.

“As the current IGP had promised a ’happy ending’ for all parties, is he planning to leave without fulfilling that vow?” she asked.

On Hamid’s recent admission of “corrupt cops” within the police force, Indira said it is no surprise as she believes certain parties may have interfered in the efforts to retrieve her child.

Prasana, who turned 13 on April 8, Indira said, will not be forced to renounce Islam if they are to be reunited.

“I just want to meet her and hug her. Prasana is my flesh and blood after all.

“She is now 13 years old and is becoming a young woman. I have fought tooth and nail for this, and I will not give up until I get to see her,” said Indira, who is Hindu since birth.

Expressing her lack of confidence over seeing Hamid’s promises fulfilled, she could only smile sardonically when asked about her expectations from the next IGP.

“Including the current IGP, I have been dealing with five IGPs. None have taken significant action,” she said.

“What was their fear? What was holding them back? Only Hamid has given some assurances and promises, but to no avail.

“I can only hope that the new IGP will be genuine and find a solution for me. No more empty promises. Only meaningful action.”

Update sought again from IGP
 
Arun Dorasamy, chairman of the Indira Gandhi Action Team (Ingat) working to help her, said Indira submitted a letter to Hamid last Friday in a desperate bid to obtain updates on the status of her daughter before he retires next month.

Hamid, who became the nation’s top cop on May 4, 2019, will retire on May 3.

“We have yet to meet the IGP from the day he assumed his post,” Arun said.

“We had last submitted a letter to request a meeting on September 17 last year, after he failed to attend a meeting on September 3.

“We have yet to receive any response from the letter we had sent (either),” he said, adding that the latest letter is the last of seven the team has sent to Hamid since he assumed the post.

Arun said Indira and Ingat have also requested to meet the case’s task force chief, Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk Huzir Mohamed, and current investigating officer Yap Siew Cheng for updates on the search for Prasana.

On January 31 last year, Hamid reportedly said that police are aware of Prasana’s whereabouts and working on arranging a meeting between both parents to settle the issue in an amicable manner.

Prasana is believed to be with her father, Muhammad Riduan Abdullah.

The teen was taken by Indira’s ex-husband, known as K. Pathmanathan before he converted to Islam in 2009, when she was just 11 months old.

In the same period, Riduan also converted their three children to Islam without Indira’s knowledge.

This sparked a lengthy court battle that finally saw the Federal Court ruling in January 2018 that the unilateral conversions of Indira’s children were unlawful.

While the former couple’s elder children – Tevi Darsiny, 22, and Karan Dinish, 21 – remain with Indira, the police have yet to recover Prasana and return her to Indira following the ruling.

Despite an arrest warrant issued by the high court in 2014 for Riduan, police have yet to locate him. He was last believed to be residing in a neighbouring country.

At present, protracted delays by police to recover Prasana and return her to Indira had prompted her lawyers in November last year to file a RM100 million civil suit against the IGP for failing to act appropriately based on the court ruling.

The case is expected to be heard in June. – The Vibes, April 21, 2021