The police will neither change their stance nor enforce shariah and civil court orders in connection with two recent child custody tussle cases in Perak and Negeri Sembilan.
Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said the facts were clear that there was a conflict in the court’s decision.
“But I think people still do not understand the meaning of this conflict, and some of these online news portals report only only one side of the story, thus causing confusion.
“Both cases in Perak and Negeri Sembilan have similar facts. First, we get a shariah court order to give protection to the children placed in the custody of their fathers.
“Then, we get a civil court order to produce the children and hand them over to their respective mothers. Thus, arose the conflict in the two court orders that threw the police into a dilemma on which order to enforce,” he told reporters after launching the Royal Malaysian Police Innovation Day here today.
He said in the constitution, both the courts were of equal status and article 121 (a) clearly stated the shariah court status was similar to the civil court.
So, Khalid added, because the police did not want to be caught in between the rulings made by both courts, they preferred to remain in the middle, and that he was not going to change this stance.
Asked whether the police were in contempt of court, he said it was up to the court to decide but the court must also look at the predicament the police were in.
Last month, the Court of Appeal dismissed an application by N. Viran whose Muslim name is Izwan Abdullah, to postpone the Seremban High Court’s decision that gave custody of his two children to their mother, S. Deepa, a Hindu.
In another similar case in Ipoh, kindergarten teacher M. Indira Gandhi obtained a court order earlier this year, to sue her Muslim convert ex-husband Muhammad Ridzuan Abdullah, known as K. Patmanathan before converting, for contempt of court after failing to surrender their youngest child, Prasana Diksa (Ummu Habibah), six, to the plaintiff after winning the child custody case, in accordance with the order of the High Court on March 11, 2010.
In April 2009, Ipoh Shariah High Court had given custody of their three children, namely Abu Bakar (Karan Dinish), Ummu Salamah (Tevi Darsiny) and Prasana to Mohd Ridzuan. ― Bernama
