By Clara Chooi   the m'sianInsider

KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 – Kindergarten teacher, M Indira Gandhi, who celebrated a short-lived victory yesterday when she won custody of her toddler, will have to return to the courts soon, as her Muslim-convert husband has refused to give up the child.

K Pathmanathan, now known as Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah, told The Malaysian Insider this morning that he had already filed a notice of appeal to the court and an application for a stay of execution of yesterday’s High Court order for him to return 23-month-old Prasana Diksa to the mother.

“The court has already fixed the date to hear the stay of execution application on March 25,” he said.

In the meantime, Mohd Ridzuan said he had no intention to give up Prasana, adding that he did not care if “they come and kill me”.

“At this point, I do not care about anyone. All I want is for my children to be with me. I am only concerned about them,” he said.

The couple have two other daughters — Tevi Darsiny, 13, and Karan Dinish, 12.

He refused to reveal details current whereabouts of Prasana but claimed that she was in the safe hands of school authorities in Kelantan, where he resides.

Mohd Ridzuan also rebutted claims that he was jobless, saying that he presently owned a bakery and was on the verge of opening a textile factory of his own.

“Look at Indira. All she is relying on right now is the charity of others. She believes that, as a single mother, she can get the sympathy of others. As a kindergarten teacher, she only makes a few hundred ringgit a month. How much longer can she bank on the charity of others to take care of our children?” he said.

Mohd Ridzuan also hit out at the public for using the religious element of his case to side with Indira.

“I embraced Islam because of my personal beliefs. I converted my children because I am their father. They can choose when they come of age in the future, whether or not to follow or reject the religion,” he said.

Mohd Ridzuan had converted his three children on March last year without the knowledge of his estranged wife, with whom he had been having marital problems with.

Angry, Indira had battled her husband in the courts by applying for full custody of the children and attempting to quash their conversion to Islam.

The bitter custody battle almost seemed over yesterday when High Court Justice Wan Afrah Wan Ibrahim decided in chambers that the civil courts had the jurisdiction to hear the matter since, being a non-Muslim, Indira could not stand before the Syariah Court.

Justice Wan Afrah had then ordered for Prasana, who has been separated from her mother and two siblings for almost a year now, to be returned to Indira immediately. The judge also said that any party holding custody of the toddler must abide by the order.

According to Mohd Ridzuan’s lawyer, Faizal Che Yusof, however, the fight between the two disputing parents was far from over.

He said that the hearing for the stay of execution would come up very soon and he would serve the notice to Indira’s lawyers shortly.

“In the meantime, I appeal to both parties to be patient. The legal process is far from over. We respect the decision of the High Court but we still have the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court to hear this matter,” he said.

He added that the case had actually reached a deadlock at this point for there were two similar orders, granted by two parallel courts: the civil High Court and the Syariah High Court.

The Syariah High Court had, on April 8 last year, granted custody of the couple’s three children to Mohd Ridzuan.

“Both orders are in conflict with one another so the question here now is which ruling should prevail. I maintain that Article 121(a) of the Constitution should take precedence here for it states that no civil court can hear matters pertaining to Islam.

“However, we respect also the order granted yesterday by the High Court so my proposal to all parties here is to take it easy. After all, both parties want to execute both orders and this scenario could likely become worse,” he said.

Faizal also suggested that both husband and wife turn to mediation instead of an adversarial approach to settle their dispute.

“Perhaps, as parents, they can sit together to discuss what is the best outcome for the good of their children. After all, at the end of the day, there is no argument that these three children are products of both mother and father,” he said.

Meanwhile, Indira told The Malaysian Insider that she had no intention to allow her husband to steal her little victory from yesterday.

She is giving him until next week to return her child.

“If he fails to do so, we will have to enforce the court order. His actions are in contempt of court. I will also lodge a report against him and get the police to conduct a search for my child,” she said.

The 35-year-old called her husband an arrogant man and said that, despite what he had said in newspaper reports yesterday about how he still loved her, she had no intention of going back to him.

“I have spoken to my other two children and they feel that what we have is enough. If he loves me, he would not have done what he did,” she said.

She explained that not only had Mohd Ridzuan converted her children without her knowledge, he had also run off with another woman, thus triggering the couple’s marital problems.

“There were so many other things. Too many that I do not want to get into. All I want is my children,” she said.

Indira added that Prasana was turning two on April 8 next month and she wished to celebrate her daughter’s birthday.

“I missed her first birthday because of this battle. I will not miss the next,” she said.

Lawyers for Indira told The Malaysian Insider that they had already written to the Religious Departments of Perak and Kelantan on the matter, informing them that Prasana should be returned to the mother.

“We suspect that the department is holding custody of the child at this point,” said M. Kulasegaran.