Coa Throws Out Police Govt Bid To Strike Out Indira Gandhi S Suit

---

The police and government have failed in their bid to dismiss M Indira Gandhi’s lawsuit over the authorities’ alleged failure to arrest her Muslim convert former husband and recover their daughter Prasana Diksa.
The Court of Appeal in Putrajaya today unanimously decided to uphold last year’s Kuala Lumpur High Court ruling by judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali to dismiss the striking-out application by the appellants.
“We are of the view that the learned High Court judge was correct in his finding that whether the appellants were liable for the tort of nonfeasance as alleged by the respondent is a matter of evidence which must necessarily be dealt with by way of trial.
“We are of the conceded view that based on the facts and circumstances of this case, there are complex issues of law including issues on the interpretation of Section 7(2) of the Government Proceeding Act, Section 20 of the Police Act and also the common law positions of the tort of nonfeasance by the public officer,” ruled Court of Appeal judge Hanipah Farikullah.
Hanipah was leading a panel of judges consisting of Gunalan Muniandy and Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim.
She awarded Indira (above) RM10,000 in costs and then fixed for case management of the kindergarten teacher's suit on Sept 14.
On Oct 28 last year, Indira filed the suit against then inspector-general of police Abdul Hamid Bador over the latter’s alleged failure to track down her former husband Muhammad Riduan Abdullah, arrest him, and recover Prasana from him.
The police force, Hamid, the Home Ministry, and the government were named as defendants in the suit.
Prasana was an infant when her father Riduan, previously named K Pathmanathan, reportedly 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.
Unilateral conversions unlawful
In 2014, the Ipoh High Court 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 need permission from both parents. The apex court also issued an arrest warrant for Riduan.
According to Indira's lawsuit, the IGP allegedly failed to abide by two orders of the High Court in Ipoh which were issued on May 30, 2014.
The first order was a committal order for Riduan to be jailed for failing to return Prasana to Indira. The second one was a recovery order for the Royal Malaysia Police and the court bailiff to retrieve Prasana from Riduan and return the child to Indira.
Indira claimed the IGP has committed a tort of nonfeasance in public office by failing to arrest Riduan and recover Prasana.
On July 16 last year, the police and government failed in their bid to strike out the suit, contending that it was scandalous, frivolous, vexatious, or abuse of the court process.
The plaintiff is seeking declarations that the IGP has committed a tort of nonfeasance in public office and that the other three defendants are vicariously liable for the first defendant’s (IGP’s) tort of nonfeasance.
She is also seeking general, aggravated, and exemplary damages, interest, costs, and any other order deemed fit by the court.
In an online press conference today, Indira criticised the current Inspector-General of Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani's silence over her case, adding that she has not seen her daughter as a result of it.
“Prasana has grown now, she is a 14-year-old girl and we do not know anything about her until today. This is very depressing, the police should act as soon as possible.
“There is no (pressure) or news from him (Acryl Sani), even he is fed up with this case and that is very, very wrong. As it is a public interest case, he should be addressing it,” she said. - Mkini

---