[UPDATED] Govt fails bid to strike out Indira Gandhi’s RM100 mil suit

KUALA LUMPUR – M. Indira Gandhi’s RM100 million civil suit against the police and government will now proceed after the latter failed in their appeal to strike out her nonfeasance suit. 

A three-member Court of Appeal panel found that the government’s application was without merit and ordered for the case to be remitted back to the high court, where it will undergo trial over the authorities’ failure to locate her youngest daughter despite a court order.

Case management has been set for September 14. 

Indira Gandhi filed the suit in October 2020 following protracted delays by the police to recover the child, Prasana Diksa, from her ex-husband, Muhammad Riduan Abdullah, who unilaterally converted the couple’s children to Islam.

In her suit, she named the inspector-general of the Royal Malaysian Police, the Home Ministry, and the government as defendants – claiming the authorities had deliberately and negligently ignored a previous mandamus order from the Federal Court to probe and take appropriate action to locate and return Prasana.

Riduan, formerly known as K. Patmanathan before his conversion to Islam in 2009, had reportedly abducted Prasana when she was 11 months old. She is 14 years old this year. 

Appeals court judge Datuk Hanipah Farikullah, in dismissing the government’s appeal today, said the complexity of the issue required a full hearing while ordering RM10,000 in costs to be paid to Indira Gandhi. 

Other than Hanipah, who chaired the panel, the other judges presiding over the case were Datuk Gunalan Muniandy and Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim. 

Indira Gandhi was represented by Rajesh Nagarajan and Sachpreetraj Singh Sohanpal from Raj & Sach Associates. 

In a virtual press conference after the decision was delivered, Indira Gandhi said the delayed action by the police is a poor reflection of the force, adding that the lack of updates she has received pertaining to Prasana was very depressing. 

She also took the current Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani to task for his inaction and silence over the case, insisting he should address a matter of public interest. 

Meanwhile, Indira Gandhi Action Team chairman Arun Dorasamy said it is saddening that the case had to go through an exhausting legal process against the police, whose solemn duty was to protect every citizen. 

“We don’t even know what has happened to Prasana. We really hope she is alive and well.

“We have no way of knowing. Whatever the conspiracy and justification for the police’s lack of action is, Indira Gandhi deserves justice.”

He added that the high court had previously set February 5 to February 9, 2024, for the trial. 

Today’s court decision is the second time the government has failed in its bid to strike out Indira Gandhi’s suit.

On July 16 last year, the high court similarly dismissed the government’s application.

Indira Gandhi and Riduan married on April 10, 1993, and have three children — the other two being Tevi Darsiny, 23, and Karan Dinish, 22. 

In 2009, Riduan unilaterally converted their kids to Islam and obtained custody of them from the Ipoh shariah court.

Indira Gandhi then filed an application for full custody of the children, which was granted by the Ipoh High Court in March 2010, although Prasana was forcibly taken by Riduan. The couple divorced on August 8, 2012. 

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

In 2018, the Federal Court ruled that the unilateral conversion of the three children to Islam was invalid in a landmark decision. – The Vibes, September 7, 2022