KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Bar is concerned that the case involving Indira Gandhi and her daughter has yet to meet a resolution, more than 10 years after it began.
The case has once again arisen in the media, in the light of revelations by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador.
The nation’s top cop had reportedly said: “I know where he (Indira’s ex-husband) is, so come forward and let’s resolve this, and he can remain in the country where the children will receive complete education. Don’t hide anymore.”
“It is not for the police in such cases to mediate between the enforcement of the decision of the Federal Court and the parties of the case, or to strive for a 'win-win' outcome to the case,” said Malaysian Bar President Abdul Fareed Abdul Gafoor.
He said it was imperative that within Malaysia’s constitutional scheme, the various branches of Government and the agencies that constitute these branches, comply and act in accordance with the pronouncements of such court orders.
The separation of powers is designed to be a system of checks and balances, he said.
Fareed said that any act, on the part of any officer, contrary to the pronouncements of the decision of the court, would create chaos and discord in society.
“The Malaysian Bar, therefore, calls on the IGP to carry out and enforce the pronouncement of the Federal Court in 2018, and to pursue the immediate return of Prasana Diksa to her mother,” he said.
The Indira Gandhi case concerned the unilateral conversion of three children, the product of a civil law marriage, by their father, Muhammad Riduan Abdullah, then a newly-converted Muslim, without the knowledge or consent of Indira Gandhi, the non-converting parent.
The Federal Court had in 2018 unanimously ruled that the unilateral conversion of the three children was null and void, holding that the consent of both parents was needed to convert a minor.
Controversy still surrounds the status of the youngest child, Prasana Diksa, who was reported to have been abducted by Muhammad Riduan Abdullah.
It was also reported that Indira Gandhi has not had any contact with either her daughter, or her ex-husband.
It is in view of these facts that the revelations by the IGP are startling and warrant immediate action.