KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 19): Newly-retired former chief justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat said that there should be no obstacle for the police to find the missing child of M Indira Gandhi, since they could find the charred remains of businesswoman Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya (whose body was burnt to ashes) and Mongolian translator Altantuya Shariibuu (whose remains were blown up) and successfully secured convictions for the perpetrators.

Speaking on Tuesday at the Allianz Centre for Governance (ACG) Distinguished Speaker Series entitled “The Sanctity of Malaysia’s Federal Constitution: Threats, Solutions and Impact on National Governance”, Tengku Maimun was asked about the Indira Gandhi matter during a Q&A session. She said that the recovery of the child is beyond the domain of the judiciary, but questioned why the police haven’t been able to locate the child for more than 10 years.

“I personally would think that there would be no obstacle for the police to locate the child; but, I really don’t know why more than 10 years down the line — I don’t know why the child has not been located and returned to the mother,” she said.

Tengku Maimun explained that she was the dissenting judge at the Court of Appeal in 2014, when the bench reversed a High Court order to compel the police and then-inspector general of police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar to search for M Indira Gandhi’s former husband K Pathmanathan @ Muhammad Ridhuan Abdullah, who had taken the couple’s youngest child, Prasana Diksa, in 2009 aged just 11 months.

Subsequently, the Federal Court reversed the appellate court’s decision and ordered the police to search for Mohd Ridhuan.

“I can’t answer (for why the child has not been found) — it’s beyond the domain of the judiciary. This case had a lasting impact on me as a sitting judge in the Court of Appeal,” she said.

“I was the dissenting judge, I upheld the decision of the High Court to issue a mandamus order against the police to recover the children based on the custody order that was granted by the civil court to the mother,” she added.

While she said she could not answer for the police inaction on finding the child and father, she used the investigations of Sosilawati and Altantuya as an analogy.

“I would like to make this analogy, (in the case of) Sosilawati, where the bodies of the deceased person was burnt to ashes. The police were very confident, and they managed to find the perpetrators, charged them and convictions were secured,” she said.

“Altantuya — the deceased person was blown to pieces. The police found the perpetrators, charged them and secured a conviction,” she said.

Indira has filed lawsuits against the inspector general of police (IGP) and other authorities for failing to comply with court orders to locate her daughter. However, a 2024 ruling found that the police had not shown negligence, noting that investigations were still underway.

“It’s entirely up to the police to execute the warrant of arrest issued by the civil courts against the father, and the recovery order, and the custody order,” said Tengku Maimun.

In 2009, Indira’s ex-husband, K Pathmanathan (who later converted to Islam as Muhammad Ridhuan Abdullah), took their three children — Prasana Diksa, Tevi Darsiny, and Karan Dinish — and unilaterally converted them to Islam without her consent. He then fled with the youngest, Prasana Diksa.

In 2010, the Ipoh High Court granted her custody of all three children and ordered their return. The other two children were returned, but Prasana Diksa remains missing.

The case reached the Federal Court, which in 2016 ordered the arrest of her ex-husband and emphasised that conversions of minors require both parents’ consent.