The police must comply with the Ipoh High Court decision granting M Indira Gandhi custody of her daughter following a legal tussle with her Muslim convert ex-husband, former inspector-general of police Musa Hassan says.

This, he acknowledged, follows yesterday's High Court order that specifically instructed the police to retrieve Prasana Diksa, failing which, the police must explain to the court in an affidavit.

"I think the police will have to follow that court order," Musa told Malaysiakini .

However, Musa also noted that the police were being placed in a difficult position due to an earlier syariah court order granting custody to the father and a later civil High Court order granting custody to the mother.

Prior to this, Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar ( right ) had said the police will not enforce the syariah or civil court decisions and will instead place Prasana in a childcare centre until the problem was resolved.

However, Musa said an alternative solution would be to refer the matter to the Attorney-General's Chambers again, following the latest court order.

"If they (police) can't make a decision, they can refer to the AG's Chambers and let the legal people decide," said the former police chief.

Or better, he said, would be to bring both parents together and resolve the problem amicably.

However, Indira's lawyer M Kulasegsaran ( left ) said  yesterday that police had already asked for a meeting but it was turned down as his client wanted police to comply with the court order.

On May 30, the High Court in Ipoh found K Pathmanathan @ Muhammad Ridhuan Abdullah in contempt of court for not complying with its 2010 decision granting custody of Prasana to the mother.

It also ruled that its decision was higher than the syariah court decision and gave the father until noon of June 6 to return the girl or police must issue an arrest warrant.

Ridhuan did not comply with the court order, citing that he was under a lot of stress and could not return his daughter in a short time.

Following this, Indira turned to the police but their reluctance to act prompted the latest court order yesterday, which gave the police 30 days to act.

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