Appeal by IGP over nonfeasance suit to be heard in April

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has fixed April 18 next year to hear an appeal by the inspector-general of police (IGP) and three others against a High Court refusal to strike out a nonfeasance lawsuit brought against them by a kindergarten teacher.

The appeal date was fixed following case management before Court of Appeal deputy registrar Mariam Hasanah Othman yesterday.

Senior federal counsel Azizan Md Arshad from the Attorney-General’s Chambers, when contacted, confirmed the hearing date. Rajesh Nagarajan, the lawyer for the plaintiff M. Indira Gandhi, also confirmed the date.

The IGP, police, Home Ministry and the government filed an appeal against the High Court decision on July 16 in dismissing their application to strike out the lawsuit filed by Indira over the authorities’ alleged failure to arrest her ex-husband and return her daughter, who was abducted by him.

High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali had instead ordered for the suit to proceed to full trial.

In the suit filed on Oct 28 last year, Indira, 46, alleged that the IGP had deliberately and negligently disregarded a mandamus order issued by the Federal Court, in failing to investigate or take appropriate action to return her youngest child, Prasana Diksa.

She claimed that the IGP, Home Ministry and the government had a role to play in making decisions or ordering the police to execute a committal warrant against Muhammad Riduan Abdullah, formerly known as K. Pathmanathan, as ordered by the Federal Court on April 29, 2016.

Muhammad Riduan took Prasana Diksa 12 years ago when she was 11-months old, shortly after he converted to Islam.

In 2009, Muhammad Riduan unilaterally converted their three children to Islam without Indira’s consent, before he went to the Syariah Court to obtain custody of the children. In 2018, the Federal Court ruled the unilateral conversion of the three children as null and void. – Bernama