By ignoring custody orders, IGP liable for contempt of court, Bar Council says

©Malay Mail (Used by permission)

KUALA LUMPUR, June 12 ― Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar can be cited for contempt of court if he does not obey the court orders issued by two High Courts in two child custody cases, the Bar Council said.

Andrew Khoo, the council's human rights committee co-chairman said that the Inspector-General of Police does not get to choose which court order to uphold and which to ignore.

“He (Khalid) has no choice but to comply or risk being cited for contempt,” Khoo was quoted by The Star today as saying.

“At the end of the day, it is the duty of the police force to enforce the law,” he added.

Firdaus Husni, the Bar Council's constitutional committee chairman said although Article 121 (1A) of the Federal Constitution stipulates that civil courts have no jurisdiction over any matter within the purview of Shariah courts, the law was not meant to give the latter superiority over the former.

“The intended effect is that civil courts should have no jurisdiction in matters within the jurisdiction of Shariah courts, for example, where two Muslims are in dispute over subject matters relating to their personal laws,” The Star quoted her as saying.

IGP Khalid said yesterday that the police will not enforce any decision by the civil courts in interfaith custody battles where one party is Muslim.

In a report by English portal The Star Online, the top cop also claimed that the police has been forced into inaction as it is “sandwiched” between the civil and Shariah legal systems.

“I have made a stand and the police will stand by it. I can't do anything if there are people out there lambasting the police,” Khalid had said.

Despite mounting criticism, Khalid said he was unfazed by accusations that the police force is in contempt of court for not carrying out the orders.

The IGP has also suggested that children in interfaith custody disputes be housed in childcare centres to avoid disputes arising from conflicting orders from both the civil courts and Shariah courts.

Khalid was commenting on two similar cases in Perak and Negri Sembilan in which Muslim convert fathers refused to return the children they took from the Hindu mothers.

In the Perak case, Muslim convert Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah defied a civil court deadline last Friday to return his six-year-old daughter Prasana Diksa to her Hindu mother, Indira Gandhi.

Indira won custody of her three children in the Ipoh High Court in 2010, and the same court ruled last month that the custody order granted in 2009 by the Shariah Court to her former husband Mohd Ridzuan was “null and void”.

In the Negri Sembilan case, Muslim convert Izwan Abdullah has refused to return his six-year-old son Mithran Viran to Deepa Subramaniam despite the civil courts granting the Hindu mother full custody.

Izwan cited the Shariah court’s 2013 order which granted him custody of the child.

Last Thursday, de facto law minister Nancy Shukri called on the police to act to return the child to his mother, in compliance with the civil court’s order.

In both the Perak and Negri Sembilan case, the civil courts have issued recovery orders, directing the police to track down the abducted children and return them to their mothers.

But when served with the recovery order, police had told Deepa’s lawyers that they must first consult the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

In April, the police had declined to investigate the snatching of Deepa’s son as an abduction and pointed out that they were bound by both custody orders from the civil courts and Shariah court.