KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 — M. Indira Gandhi’s lawyers are to track down her Muslim-convert husband in Kota Baru early next month to personally serve him with a four-month-old High Court order compelling him to surrender his youngest child.
Lawyer M. Kulasegaran confirmed with The Malaysian Insider today that he would leave for Kota Baru on August 8 to search for Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah, who is believed to be residing there with the couple’s two-year-old toddler, Prasana Diksa.
“We have already written a letter to his lawyers, seeking to fix a date for us to serve a copy of (High Court Justice) Wan Afrah’s (Wan Ibrahim) order on their client.
“We have already served the lawyers a copy but not on him. We are trying to seek an appointment now so if everything goes according to plan, I will personally go to Kota Baru to meet with him,” Kulasegaran said.
He said that if Mohd Ridzuan refused to abide by the order served on him, Indira would proceed to take the matter further and cite him for contempt of court.
“We will give him some time to deliver the child over. From there on, if he fails to do so, we will act,” he said.
Kulasegaran added that today’s decision by High Court Judge Zainal Adzam Abdul Ghani, which granted leave to Indira for a judicial review seeking to quash the conversion certificates for her three children, would make things easier for her to pursue the matter with her husband.
Indira’s children — Prasana Diksa, Tevi Darsiny, 13, and Karan Dinish, 12 — were converted to Islam by her husband without her knowledge last April.
“It opens up the avenue for us a little. Now, we will keep pushing for her husband to abide by the custody order,” said Kulasegaran.
Indira was granted full custody of her three children by a separate High Court on March 11 this year after a long-drawn battle with her husband, who has kept Prasana with him since a year back.
Despite this, her husband, formerly known as K. Pathmanathan, had chosen to ignore the order despite failing in his attempt to stay the High Court’s decision.
He had told The Malaysian Insider recently that his behaviour was not in contempt of court as he also had a similar custody order, granted to him earlier by the Syariah High Court.
Since then, Mohd Ridzuan has refused to reveal the whereabouts of Prasana, claiming that she was in the safe hands of school authorities in Kelantan, where he now resides.
He has also claimed to be capable of caring for the toddler as he owned a bakery and was planning to open up a textile factory soon.
When contacted today, Indira told The Malaysian Insider that she had last spoken to her husband on April 8 this year, the day of Prasana’s second birthday.
“I called him because me and my other two children wanted to speak to Prasana but he refused to allow us to. He gave excuses, saying she was asleep and should not be disturbed,” she said.
The kindergarten teacher claimed that her husband had not shown any interest in his two older children, who have been living with her since the debacle started last year.
“My kids tried to call him to wish happy birthday to him on May 26, but he never answered the call. What can we do?” she said.
Lawyer M. Kulasegaran confirmed with The Malaysian Insider today that he would leave for Kota Baru on August 8 to search for Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah, who is believed to be residing there with the couple’s two-year-old toddler, Prasana Diksa.
“We have already written a letter to his lawyers, seeking to fix a date for us to serve a copy of (High Court Justice) Wan Afrah’s (Wan Ibrahim) order on their client.
“We have already served the lawyers a copy but not on him. We are trying to seek an appointment now so if everything goes according to plan, I will personally go to Kota Baru to meet with him,” Kulasegaran said.
He said that if Mohd Ridzuan refused to abide by the order served on him, Indira would proceed to take the matter further and cite him for contempt of court.
“We will give him some time to deliver the child over. From there on, if he fails to do so, we will act,” he said.
Kulasegaran added that today’s decision by High Court Judge Zainal Adzam Abdul Ghani, which granted leave to Indira for a judicial review seeking to quash the conversion certificates for her three children, would make things easier for her to pursue the matter with her husband.
Indira’s children — Prasana Diksa, Tevi Darsiny, 13, and Karan Dinish, 12 — were converted to Islam by her husband without her knowledge last April.
“It opens up the avenue for us a little. Now, we will keep pushing for her husband to abide by the custody order,” said Kulasegaran.
Indira was granted full custody of her three children by a separate High Court on March 11 this year after a long-drawn battle with her husband, who has kept Prasana with him since a year back.
Despite this, her husband, formerly known as K. Pathmanathan, had chosen to ignore the order despite failing in his attempt to stay the High Court’s decision.
He had told The Malaysian Insider recently that his behaviour was not in contempt of court as he also had a similar custody order, granted to him earlier by the Syariah High Court.
Since then, Mohd Ridzuan has refused to reveal the whereabouts of Prasana, claiming that she was in the safe hands of school authorities in Kelantan, where he now resides.
He has also claimed to be capable of caring for the toddler as he owned a bakery and was planning to open up a textile factory soon.
When contacted today, Indira told The Malaysian Insider that she had last spoken to her husband on April 8 this year, the day of Prasana’s second birthday.
“I called him because me and my other two children wanted to speak to Prasana but he refused to allow us to. He gave excuses, saying she was asleep and should not be disturbed,” she said.
The kindergarten teacher claimed that her husband had not shown any interest in his two older children, who have been living with her since the debacle started last year.
“My kids tried to call him to wish happy birthday to him on May 26, but he never answered the call. What can we do?” she said.
