The Federal Court has allowed K Pathmanathan @ Mohd Ridhuan Abdullah until tomorrow to come to the highest court in the country to purge his contempt and bring the youngest daughter Prasana Diksa (Ummu Habiba), as ordered to in the appeal by his former wife M Indira Gandhi.

On April 29 this year, the Federal Court had instructed the inspector-general of police (Khalid Abu Bakar) to arrest Ridhuan over the highly-watched interfaith custody case for not producing Prasana in court, as ordered.

In today’s hearing, Chief Judge of Malaya Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin said the five-member bench will decide tomorrow whether Ridhuan’s lawyer Hatem Musa would be allowed to address the court in the case or otherwise.

Justice Zulkefli said this after Indira Gandhi's lawyer M Kulasegaran made a preliminary objection over Hatem's presence in court as Ridhuan has yet to purge his contempt following the Federal Court's order on April 29.

In this ruling, a five-man bench chaired by Court of Appeal president Md Raus Sharif allowed Indira Gandhi's appeal to reinstate the mandamus order issued by the High Court in Ipoh compelling IGP Khalid Abu Bakar to execute the warrant of committal against Ridhuan.

"If he (Ridhuan) is not present tomorrow we will decide whether you can address the court," Justice Zulkefli told Hatem.

Lawyer to relay message

Kulasegaran and lawyer K Shanmuga said they are prepared to go on with the case, either with or without Ridhuan's presence.

The appeal against the unilateral conversion of the two children is up in question for two days beginning today. The other daughter, the eldest is already more than 18 years.

The other judges in the panel with Justice Zulkefli today were Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Richard Malanjum and Federal Court judges Zainun Ali, Abu Samah Nordin and Ramly Ali.

Hatem told the court that he only acts for Ridhuan in conversion cases and not the contempt proceeding.

He was taken aback by the preliminary objection as he was only informed of the matter four days ago.

"Nevertheless, I will inform the panel of today's outcome and the request that he comes forward to court with the child (Prasana Diksa)," the lawyer said.

He added that the last time he contacted Ridhuan when the Court of Appeal decided on the same case last year.

Cops now have chance to right wrong

Indira Gandhi told reporters outside court that she last saw her youngest daughter in 2010, when she was 18-month-old when her former husband faced contempt proceedings.

Kulasegaran told reporters that tomorrow is the best time for IGP Khalid to arrest for not complying with the court order to return Prasana.

The lawyer, who is also the Ipoh Barat MP, said the problem lies with the definition of "parent" in Kamus Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka in 1972.

At the time, the word was defined as mother and father, but it has now been changed to mother or father.

"I have brought this matter up in the past as now there is a change in the constitution without people realising it," he said.

Three issues to be determined

Three questions of law are to be decided by this five-member bench which will hear the appeal tomorrow:

• Whether the High Court has exclusive jurisdiction, pursuant to Sections 23, 24 and 25 and the Schedule of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 (read together with Order 53 of the Rules of Court 2012) and/or its inherent jurisdiction to review the actions of the Registrar of Muallaf or his delegate acting as the public authority in exercising statutory powers vested by the Administration of the Religion of Islam (Perak) Enactment 2004;

• Whether a child of a marriage registered under the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1979, who has not attained the age of 18 years, must comply with both Sections 96 (1) and 106 (b) of the Administration of the Religion of Islam (Perak) Enactment 2004 (or similar provisions to state laws throughout the country), before the Registrar of Muallaf or his delegate may register the conversion to Islam of that child; and,

• Whether the mother and father (if both are still surviving) of a child of a civil marriage must consent before a certificate of conversion to Islam can be issued in respect of the child.

Indira Gandhi, 41, and Ridhuan has been locked in a protracted legal battle over the conversion and custody of their children since he had embraced Islam and secretly converted the three children in 2008.

Prasana then 11-month-old, was taken from her by Ridhuan in 2009.

The Ipoh High Court had ruled that the conversion of Indira Gandhi's three children were null and void, but this decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal in a 2-1 decision in December last year.