KUALA LUMPUR, April 24 — Today, the High Court in Ipoh is expected to deliver its decision on whether to allow M. Indira Gandhi to start contempt of court proceedings against the Inspector-General of Police (IGP).

Indira told Malay Mail: “I don’t know how it’s going to turn out and I always cross my fingers that justice always prevails.”

Indira’s main aim, however, is not to get the police to be held in contempt of court, but to find her daughter Prasana Diksa — just like with all her other court cases.

“It’s not that we want to blame the police, but if they could do their job better and if they have at least found out something, it would have been more encouraging for me.

“But then, we don’t see the police are doing their work, that is what disappoints us. Malaysia’s police are a very fantastic force, they could find any criminals, within hours also they can do.

“But why is the silence in this case and that 17 years — it’s like [it] fell into a deaf ear. So that is really disappointing us,” she added.

This is Indira’s second attempt to cite the IGP for contempt. She filed it on November 17 last year and the High Court heard her application on February 27.

Indira’s contempt of court application revolves around the police’s alleged continued failure to enforce the High Court’s May 30, 2014 court orders to recover her daughter and to arrest her ex-husband K. Pathmanathan.

Indira’s lawyer Rajesh Nagarajan explained: “What is new now is: i) the prolonged failure to act despite a valid court order; ii) information suggesting that Pathmanathan is openly accessing government aid (Budi95, Sara 100).

“This raises serious concerns that: his whereabouts are traceable, and the authorities have the means but have intentionally failed to act.”

If the High Court decides today to allow the contempt of court proceedings to start, the court will hear the case and then decide whether the IGP has committed contempt of court, Rajesh added.

When asked about the purpose of this contempt application, Rajesh said: “It is another legal avenue to exert pressure on the authorities to secure Prasana’s recovery.”

“A successful contempt application would: i) increase pressure on the authorities, and ii) potentially compel focused efforts to recover the child,” he said.

Indira was 34 years old in 2009, when her marriage broke down and her Hindu-turned-Muslim husband K. Pathmanathan snatched away her youngest daughter Prasana Diksa — who was not even one year old then.

Since then, Indira said she has been to court “countless” times over the last 17 years, all with the hope of reuniting with her daughter.

“I think half of my life I have spent in all the courts,” Indira, now 51, said when contacted ahead of the court decision today in Ipoh.

Indira has been to the courts in Ipoh (without missing any in Ipoh), Kuala Lumpur and also Putrajaya, while juggling work and raising her two other children.

“It was not easy at all, I mean, as a single mother providing for the other older children, and then most of the time I use public transport — either I go by train or by bus,” she said.

While saying that many think she stays in Kuala Lumpur, Indira said she actually travels all the way from Ipoh — either about 2.5 hours by train or about three hours by bus as these options are cheaper — one day in advance for all the court cases in KL and Putrajaya.

“Usually I will travel one day ahead because the proceedings are like 9 o’clock in the morning, so I have to be there by 8 o’clock. So if I take the 5.30am train, I’m scared I might miss, so I have to come a day earlier,” she said, adding that she sometimes stays at her sister’s place in Kajang to cut costs.

Indira is sometimes accompanied by her mother — who is now 84 years old — to court, and also occasionally by her older daughter Tevi Darsiny to the courts in Putrajaya.

She said she had on many occasions taken up her previous lawyer M. Kulasegaran’s offer to drive her to KL and Putrajaya for court when he was still handling her cases.

Indira worked as a kindergarten teacher in Ipoh for many years but had to give up this job to become a full-time tutor for primary school students some years ago.

“The main thing I resigned from being a kindergarten teacher is because of all this — because I couldn’t take frequent leave for my court proceedings. So my only option is to be a freelancer, so I started being a tutor, because I can manage my timetable,” she said.

Indira said she was not only teaching then, but also baking and offering transportation or carpooling services to send students to school just to earn extra money.

“Of course my siblings do help me, but then everything still comes back to me to give moral support, to be there for their every school function. So juggling with work, and court cases, with children, it’s not easy,” she said, adding that she tried to make sure to be there for her children’s main school activities.

Thankful for all the support from public, lawyers

Indira said she received donations and support from the public, adding that she is “very grateful” that many understood and “took this as not a religious issue”, but as a “mother’s concern to find her daughter”.

Indira confirmed that she did not have to pay legal fees to all the lawyers that have been representing her — including Kulasegaran up until he became a minister — as they have been doing so pro bono even until now.

“He has helped me in so many ways, not only for my case, even for my children’s education and financially also he has helped us.

“So I’m really so grateful for what YB has done, I think without him, we might not also have won the Federal Court cases,” she said of Kulasegaran, who is also Ipoh Barat MP and now deputy minister for law and institutional reform.

She described her current pro bono lawyers from the law firm Raj & Sach as being good lawyers who are “gems” and who have helped her in many ways.

“As I know, yes, it is very expensive, and just imagine, 17 years the case is still going on — the amount of work… I don’t know how much it cost them, but I know it is quite a lot.”

Indira’s current lawyer Rajesh confirmed that he began representing her around 2019 in her legal efforts to be reunited with her daughter Prasana on a pro bono basis.

Rajesh said he had attended court at least 30 to 40 times at all levels — High Court, Court of Appeal, Federal Court — over the years for Indira’s cases.

“Our sole purpose has always been to reunite her with her child. This is not just a private dispute — it raises serious issues about enforcement of court orders and the rule of law,” he said.

What are the court cases being pursued by Indira now?

Earlier this month, Indira and her two older children went to the High Court in Ipoh, hoping to see Prasana ahead of her April 8 birthday.

But Prasana’s location remains unknown until today, with Indira saying she “just offered a prayer at the temple” to mark her daughter’s 18th birthday.

The High Court in Ipoh has scheduled June 25 as the next date for the police to update the court on its progress in finding Indira’s ex-husband and executing the arrest warrant on him — which Indira hopes will lead to answers about Prasana.