[UPDATED] Court dismisses Indira Gandhi’s bid for contempt proceedings against police, IGP

KUALA LUMPUR – M. Indira Gandhi has failed in her bid to mount contempt proceedings against the Royal Malaysian Police and the inspector-general (IGP).

The Ipoh High Court today dismissed her leave application against the two parties, which she accused of failing to comply with a 2014 mandamus order to recover her youngest daughter Prasana Diksa.

Indira said she will file an immediate appeal and will not relent until her daughter is returned to her.

“It was disappointing, but we expected this decision from the judge. As we know, this case keeps on dragging without a solution and this is very disappointing. Definitely we are taking this to the Court of Appeal and we will see how it goes.

“As a mother, I’ve been waiting too long. I have the right to see my daughter.” 

Her lawyer L. Pavitra said it was “a one-line decision” with no other orders.

“We file this application based on the recovery order that we have – the order to recover Prasana from the clutches of Patmanathan. 

“However, police have not done that until now,” she said, referring to Indira’s Muslim convert ex-husband Muhammad Riduan Abdullah.

“Our application is based on a particular clause in the recovery order that states that the police have to file affidavits every month to update the court on what they are doing. This includes the police investigation diary, and it was not done.”

Separately, she also filed a RM100 million civil suit against the IGP, police, the Home Ministry and the Malaysian government over their failure to find and bring back her youngest daughter, who was abducted by Riduan 11 years ago.

The two married on April 10, 1993, and have three children.

However, Indira had said, on March 11, 2009, Patmanathan converted to Islam and changed the religion of their three children to Islam, and that on September 29, 2009, he had also obtained the custody of the three children from the Ipoh Syariah Court.

She then filed an application for full custody of the children, which was granted by the Ipoh High Court on March 11, 2010.

However, Prasana was forcibly taken by Riduan after the court ordered him to hand over the children to their mother. The couple divorced on August 8, 2012. – The Vibes, August 5, 2022