Ipoh High Court Vacates Proceedings Where A Mother Is Fighting Legal Battle In Order To Reunite With Her Estranged Daughter.

IPOH, Malayasia; April 2026: The High Court in Ipoh, Malayasia has postponed proceedings scheduled for hearing today (24th April 2026) on whether to grant M. Indira Gandhi leave to initiate contempt of court action against the Inspector-General of Police (IGP).

The matter was confirmed by Indira Gandhi Action Team (Ingat) chairman Arun Doraiswami today early morning. “There will be no proceedings today. The case has been vacated by the court”, he said. The High Court had been scheduled to deliver its decision today on whether to allow Indira to proceed with the contempt application against the IGP. Meanwhile, Indira’s lawyer Rajesh Nagarajan has briefed the media reporters that they were not informed of the reason why the case had been vacated and rescheduled by the court. He said both parties were currently in the process of fixing new dates for the proceedings.

This marks Indira’s second attempt to cite the IGP for contempt of court. She filed the application on November 17 last year, and it was heard by the High Court on February 27. Her application centres on the police’s alleged continued failure to enforce the High Court’s May 30, 2014 orders, specifically, to recover her daughter and to arrest her former husband, K. Pathmanathan.

Indira Gandhi while speaking with the media reporters has expressed her deepest anguishment that, “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 that it has fell into a deaf ear. So that is really disappointing us”.

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”.

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.

It was in the year 2009, when Indira was 34 years old – 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 travel one day ahead because the proceedings are like 09 o’clock in the morning, so I have to be there by 8 o’clock. So, if I take the 05.30 AM train, I’m scared I might miss, so I prefer to come a day earlier”, she said, adding that she sometimes stays at her sister’s place in Kajang to cut costs.

Indira has thanked those from whom she has received donations alongside support from the public.

She has also 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 (for the public good) 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.

Team Maverick