KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 — In a final and desperate bid to recover her long-abducted daughter, M. Indira Gandhi has initiated contempt of court proceedings against the Inspector-General of Police for the force’s decade-long failure to execute a court order to locate the child.
The legal move comes with immense urgency, as Indira’s daughter, Prasana Diksa, is set to turn 18 early next month.
At that point, Indira will lose her legal recourse under the Child Act to compel authorities to return Prasana, who was just 11 months old when she was taken by her ex-husband.
The committal application, filed in December 2025, accuses the police of being in contempt of a 2014 High Court recovery order that compelled them to find Prasana and arrest her ex-husband, Muhammad Riduan Abdullah.
Indira’s lawyer, Rajesh Nagarajan, said the action was taken due to the “lackadaisical attitude” of the police, Free Malaysia Today reported.
“This action is being taken because the police failed to discharge their duties under the Police Act, which is why they are in contempt of court,” Rajesh said.
The High Court in Ipoh is scheduled to hear the matter on April 24, when a judge will first decide whether to grant Indira leave for the committal proceedings to be fully heard.
Indira’s ordeal began in 2009 with a legal challenge against Riduan’s unilateral conversion of their three children to Islam without her consent.
While she was granted custody of all three children in 2010, Riduan fled with Prasana.
The case culminated in a landmark 2018 Federal Court ruling that nullified the unilateral conversions and has drawn national attention to the complex issues of child custody, religious conversion, and police accountability in interfaith disputes.
