A-G is undermining rule of law by appealing court order on IGP in custody battle, says DAP lawyer

Lawyer M. Kulasegaran said matters regarding parental abduction by converting spouses could not be resolved if the A-G continued to ignore the rule of law. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, September 18, 2014.The Attorney-General is undermining the rule of law by appealing against a court order for the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to find and hand over a girl at the centre of the protracted custody battle between M. Indira Gandhi and her Muslim convert husband, said lawyer M. Kulasegaran.

The Ipoh Barat MP said Attorney-General (A-G) Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail had on Monday served a copy of a notice of appeal to his firm by the IGP Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, who was compelled to enforce a High Court mandamus order.

The court order issued on September 12 directed the IGP to retrieve Prasana Diksa and hand her over to Indira Gandhi, and to detain Muhammad Riduan Abdullah (previously known as K. Pathamanaban) within seven days.

By appealing, the A-G was sending a message to the IGP and other public servants that court orders were open to question, Kulasegaran said.

"If that is the case, the rule of law becomes an illusion in Malaysia," he added.

"Although all parties have the right to appeal against a decision of the court, this opportunity must be pursued prudently and with public interest in mind by the A-G," he said in a statement.

Kulasegaran, who is also appearing as counsel for Indira Gandhi, said it would be prudent and wise for the A-G to decline to appeal to the Court of Appeal.

"If the A-G does not proceed with the appeal, it will do justice to Indira Gandhi as her husband has yet to purge his contempt of court and Prasana Diksa is yet to be found," he said.

He said an appeal only showed that the A-G was agreeing that what the IGP was doing was correct and right.

"In my view, the A-G should have advised the IGP to execute the orders made by the High Court. Are the prime minister and the home minister going along and agreeing with the A-G and the IGP?" he asked.

He said the appeal would only impose unnecessary mental torture and cause much anguish to Indira Gandhi and her other children.

"Public interest would dictate that all court orders and warrants of arrest must be obeyed without question and it is in the welfare of Prasana Diksa for her to be reunited with her mother and her other siblings," he said.

He said the A-G and the IGP should not further delay this matter by appealing to higher courts as the ex-husband had no further appeals pending.

"He has exhausted all legal avenues. What is still outstanding on his part is to purge his contempt. A refusal to arrest him only sustains the false proposition that orders of the court can be disregarded with impunity," he said.

Kulasegaran said matters regarding parental abduction by converting spouses could not be resolved if the A-G continued to ignore the rule of law and cause injustice to a spouse of a minority community in Malaysia.

"The A-G must consider this dispute from a human perspective and consider the five years of anguish Indira Gandhi has had to go through," he said.

Riduan has refused to hand over their youngest daughter Prasana Diksa despite a 2010 High Court order awarding custody of their three children to Indira.

He has held on to the child since April 2009.

The Shariah High Court in Ipoh had in 2009 given Riduan custody of the three children after he unilaterally converted them to Islam.

However, in July last year, the Ipoh High Court quashed the conversion of the children and ruled that the certificates of conversion were unconstitutional.

On May 30, the court which found Riduan guilty of contempt of court for failing to return Prasana to Indira also granted her a recovery order and warrant of arrest against her ex-husband.

Khalid refused to follow the court order because there were two custody orders from a civil and shariah court, saying the police were sandwiched between the two court systems.

- TMI