Indira Gandhi to file RM100m lawsuit against IGP this week

 

M Indira Gandhi, who has been fighting to regain custody of her daughter Prasana Diksa, is set to file an RM100 million civil suit against Inspector-General of Police Abdul Hamid Bador this week.

Indira Gandhi Action Team (Ingat) chairperson Arun Doraisamy (above) told Malaysiakini today that law firm Raj and Sach will be filing the suit at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, either on Wednesday or Thursday.

“We have given the IGP ample time to get Prasana back. We have exhausted all avenues, so we are going ahead with the suit,” Arun said.

He also confirmed that Indira is set to carry out a 12-day, 350km Justice Walk to Putrajaya to deliver a letter to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

Arun said aside from delivering a letter to the prime minister, Indira would also deliver a memorandum to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong while on the way to Putrajaya.

"The Justice Walk is currently set to flag off at 10am on Nov 21 in Sungai Petani. It is confirmed, but we are watching the pandemic advisory as now we know that the conditional movement control order (MCO) has been extended until Nov 9.

"If there is a further extension of the conditional MCO, then we will consider reviewing the date of the walk," he added.

Arun said it was not easy to take such steps but taking the case to the public and seeking for help were the best remaining options.

In September, Ingat called off a proposed hunger strike after Abdul Hamid agreed to meet with Indira. However, at the meeting at Bukit Aman, he was not present and sent a representative instead.

Furthermore, Arun confirmed that the police have not responded to their follow-up attempts.

"You know about our meeting with the IGP on Sept 3. And from that meeting, we are supposed to have IGP's rescheduled meeting for us to thrash out a few concerns that we have."

"We did write in on Sept 7 and requested that the rescheduled meeting should happen before the end of September. And we did not get any reply, the whole month.

"So, we are under the impression that there is a systematic dragging of the feet on the IGP's side.

"We have concluded that IGP is not interested in meeting with us and we are seeking a meeting with Home Minister (Hamzah Zainudin) and the prime minister with regard to the issue. We are not seeking any further meeting with the IGP," he said.

"Earlier, we said that if the IGP refused to meet with us, we would go for a symbolic hunger strike on Sept 11.

"We called off that hunger strike to show our goodwill and willingness to work with the IGP and thrash out all the concerns, and to find a way to work together and clear the deficit of trust.

"But until today, we see no urgent interest to find Indira's daughter and reunite her with Indira. We have not received any phone calls, messages or reply to our emails," Arun added.

Back in January, the IGP revealed he knew the whereabouts of Indira’s former husband Muhammad Riduan Abdullah and urged him to surrender himself.

This is despite an arrest warrant from the Federal Court for Riduan, who had taken the daughter, Prasana with him.

Prasana was an infant when her father Riduan, previously named K Pathmanathan, took her away in 2009 after converting to Islam.

Riduan and Indira were later engaged in a tightly watched interfaith custody battle after he unilaterally converted Prasana and their two other children to Islam.

In 2014, the High Court in Ipoh ordered the police to retrieve Prasana from her father. In 2016, the Federal Court ordered the IGP to arrest Riduan.

In 2018, the Federal Court unanimously ruled that unilateral conversions of children were unlawful as such decisions needed permission from both parents.

It also issued an arrest warrant for Riduan. - Mkini