“If the IGP does not act on the Federal Court’s ruling, the police, the very authority whom we trust for enforcement and upholding the law, will be perceived as shirking the law,” Ti said in an official MCA statement following the ruling by the apex court today.
Indira Gandhi, caught in a long drawn-out custody battle over her three children, was visibly shocked but pleased with the Federal Court’s decision, ordering the arrest of her former husband K Padmanathan @ Muhammad Ridhuan Abdullah.
The ruling upholds the initial mandamus order issued by the Ipoh High Court, and also instructs the Ipoh High Court to monitor the procedures to track and arrest Ridhuan following today’s decision.
“The IGP must not shirk his responsibility by claiming that he is conflicted between the custody order by the Syariah Court and the apex court,” said Ti, who is the chairman of the MCA Religious Harmony Bureau.
Khalid’s stance previously had been that the police were in a quandary because there were two custody orders, one from the High Court and the other from the Syariah Court, and executing one order would mean showing disrespect to the other.
“The mother Indira Gandhi has already been separated from her daughter Diksa for close to seven years already, while Ridhuan is repeatedly in contempt of High Court orders awarding custody to the mother,” Ti added.