The group, which included a deputy minister, gathered at 10.30am before marching to the Bukit Aman federal police headquarters carrying placards reading “Where is my child, IGP?”, “Prasana has the right to be with her mother”, and “IGP, return my child”.
The particioants also chanted “Arrest Riduan”, “Return Prasana”, and “PDRM, be fair”.
Indira, who was accompanied by her two older children, led the procession, pushing Prasana’s old baby stroller with her teddy bear, which she planned to give to Inspector-General of Police Khalid Ismail at Bukit Aman to signify her love for her daughter.
Indira’s former husband, Riduan Abdullah, is the subject of an arrest warrant since 2018 for failing to return Prasana to Indira after he lost a legal battle over custody and religious conversion of their children.
Among those at the gathering were deputy law and institutional reform minister M Kulasegaran, former law minister Zaid Ibrahim, former Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan and social activist Marina Mahathir.
In a short speech before the march to Bukit Aman, Zaid said Indira’s case remains unresolved for 16 years because the authorities continue to treat it as a religious dispute rather than a family and custody matter.
He said cases like Indira’s would continue to recur as long as civil court orders were not respected.
“The shariah court won’t accept the decision of the civil court, and the police won’t enforce the civil court order. This is what has been happening,” he said.
“Create a new system, a new court, to take care of mothers and fathers of different faiths who are separated. This is so that they can fight for custody before an impartial court.”
Riduan had converted the couple’s three children to Islam in 2009 without Indira’s consent and had sought custody through the shariah court.
On Jan 29, 2018, the Federal Court ruled that the conversions were null and void, and ordered the IGP to arrest Riduan for defying the High Court’s directive to return Prasana.
The Ipoh High Court yesterday ordered the police to widen the search for Riduan, with Justice Norsharidah Awang stating that it should be extended across the entire country.