KUALA LUMPUR – M. Indira Gandhi will get a full trial in her RM100 million suit against the police, inspector-general of police (IGP), Home Ministry and the Malaysian government, the high court ruled.
Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali announced the decision during online proceedings today and will hear the case on December 15.
Nazlan had dismissed the strike-out application by the police, IGP, Home Ministry and the Malaysian government.
The authorities had earlier filed the application contending that the suit was scandalous, frivolous, vexatious, or an abuse of the court process.
The Malaysian government was also ordered to pay RM4,000 in costs.
Her counsel, Rajesh Nagarajan, confirmed the outcome to reporters following the online proceedings in the morning.
On Indira Gandhi’s bid to seek 48 answers from the police over investigations related to her ex-husband, Rajesh said the court partially allowed the application on questions related to committal proceedings.
“The judge also directed the IGP to answer a set of interrogatory questions posed by our side and submit these answers by August 16,” he said.
Indira Gandhi is represented by lawyers Rajesh and Sachpreetraj Singh, while senior federal counsel Andi Razalijaya A. Dadi and Saffiyah Omar represented the government and police.
Indira Gandhi has alleged inaction on the part of the authorities to arrest her ex-husband, Muhammad Riduan Abdullah, and recover her daughter, Prasana Diksa, as per the Federal Court’s order.
Protracted delays by police to recover the child and return her to her mother led to Indira Gandhi’s lawyers filing a RM100 million civil suit last November against the IGP for failing to act appropriately based on the 2018 ruling.
On January 31 last year, then IGP Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador reportedly said the force was aware of Prasana Diksa’s whereabouts, and was working on arranging a meeting between the girl’s parents to settle the issue in an amicable manner.
Prasana Diksa is believed to be with Riduan. She was taken by him before his conversion to Islam in 2009, when she was just 11 months old.
Riduan, whose name was K. Pathmanathan before his conversion, had converted their three children to Islam without her knowledge.
This sparked a lengthy court battle that finally saw the apex court ruling in January 2018 that the children’s unilateral conversion was unlawful.
The other two children – Tevi Darsiny, 22, and Karan Dinish, 21 – remain with their mother.
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. – The Vibes, July 16, 2021
