Police task force to locate Indira Gandhi’s daughter

PUTRAJAYA: The police have agreed to set up a special task force to locate Prasana Diksa (pic) and hand her over to her mother M. Indira Gandhi.

This long-waited decision was delivered by Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun during a meeting with Indira Gandhi as well as Indira Gandhi Action Team (Ingat) chairman Arun Dorasamy.

“This task force is long overdue but it’s not too late to start something good,” said Arun yesterday.

He said during the meeting with the IGP, they were given a presentation on what the police had been doing to locate Prasana and Indira Gandhi’s ex-husband Muhammad Riduan Abdullah.

Arun also said that Suhakam agreed to hear their complaints on the issue and was told the commission was preparing to hold an inquiry.

Ingat lodged an official complaint on alleged human rights violation by the police and the government for refusing to act on police reports by Indira Gandhi.

This, they said, resulted in Prasana, who was 11 months old when she was taken in 2009, to be missing until now.

Arun said Ingat’s other task was to submit a memorandum to the Home Minister to reintroduce Clause 88A to amend the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act to deal with unilateral conversion of minors.

“We ask for Clause 88A to be added that would outlaw minor’s unilateral conversion. No one should go through the agony of fighting like how Indira Gandhi has been fighting for the past 10 years,” said Arun.

The memorandum was handed over to Deputy Supt Mohd Yazid Muhari, an officer with Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Riduan, who was known as K. Padmanathan before he converted to Islam, had taken Prasana away from Indira Gandhi when she was just 11 months old.

The other two children, Tevi Darshiny, then 13, and Karan Dinesh, then 12, remained with their mother.

Police have yet to locate Ridhuan despite an arrest warrant issued by the High Court in 2014.

In 2018, the Federal Court unanimously declared that the unilateral conversion of the children as null and void.