Kindergarten teacher gets court approval to cite husband for contempt

The estranged husband of a kindergarten teacher will have to appear in court to explain why he had refused to hand over their youngest child to the mother despite a court order.

This follows the High Court ruling in Ipoh today which allowed M. Indira Gandhi (pic) to cite her husband, Muhammad Riduan Abdullah, for contempt.

The husband was not in court earlier today as Indira needed only to satisfy the court why permission must be given to cite Muhammad Riduan for contempt.

The husband, who converted to Islam, had illegally held their youngest child, Prasana Diksa, despite the wife winning custody of their three children in November 2011.

Her lawyer M. Kulasegaran said judicial commissioner Lee Swee Seng allowed Indira's application.

"We will be filing an application to commit the father to jail for contempt of court if he fails to give a satisfactory explanation," Kulasegaran said.

Indira succeeded in getting custody of her three children, Tevi Darsiny, 16, Karan Dinish, 15, and Prasana Diksa, 3.

The husband had been holding on to Prisana Diksa since April 2009 when she was 11 months old.

Lee had in July this year set aside the conversion of Tevi Darsiny, Karan Dinish and Prasana Diksa to Islam, which was done without Indira's knowledge.

He said the conversion was unconstitutional because it was done in the absence of the mother and the children. Furthermore, the judge said, the Perak Syariah law states that children must be present to utter the Islamic declaration of faith.

The judge also ruled that the conversion was against the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

The husband's application to stay the ruling is being heard in Ipoh. The ruling is pending appeal to the Court of Appeal.

Indira married Muhammad Riduan, then known as K. Patmanathan, 20 years ago according to Hindu rites.

On March 11, 2009, he converted to Islam. The following month, he converted their children to Islam without her knowledge.

The Syariah Court had then granted him custody of his children. The couple separated and the husband took Prasana Diksa with him. Indira lodged a police report, hoping that the authorities would help locate her daughter, but to no avail.