Kuala Lumpur:
A Malaysian court today ordered the arrest of an Indian-origin teacher's former husband after he failed to return their youngest child to her, media reports said.
Justice Lee Swee Seng of The Ipoh High Court also asked the police to find Indira Gandhi's youngest child Prasana Diksa and ordered the arrest of her former husband Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah.
In April 2009, Abdullah who had converted to Islam took away Diksa (6) and converted the child and her siblings Tevi Darsiny and Karan Dinish to Islam without their mother's knowledge, the Malaysian Star reported.
The tussle between Gandhi and Abdullah, formerly known as K Patmanathan, surfaced when he obtained custody of all three children from the Sharia High Court, it said.
Later, the High Court granted Gandhi the custody of her children and ordered Abdullah to return Diksa to her in March 2010.
Upon failing to return their daughter, on May 30 this year, the court issued an arrest warrant against Abdullah for contempt of court.
Gandhi then filed the application for a mandamus order when the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar insisted on taking the middle path in cases where the disputing parties had obtained separate orders from the civil and Sharia courts, the report said.
The mandamus order was issued so that the IGP would not have any doubt that it was the High Court's orders that he must enforce and not that of the Sharia court, said Justice Lee Swee Seng.
The order is to be executed within seven days, he said.