PUTRAJAYA: Kindergarten teacher M. Indira Gandhi failed in her application to adduce fresh evidence in her lawsuit against the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and three others over their failure to locate her ex-husband, who had taken their daughter away.
The Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed Indira’s application on grounds that it did not disclose any circumstances that would justify the court’s discretion to admit fresh evidence.
Indira attempted to adduce fresh evidence relating to the use of Budi95 and MyKasih SARA by her ex-husband Muhammad Riduan Abdullah, formerly known as K. Pathmanathan.
The three-judge panel, chaired by Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan, said the evidence the appellant wanted to adduce in the appeal, only surfaced recently following the conclusion of the trial at the High Court.
In such circumstances, Justice Mohamed Zaini said the first condition under Rule 7(3A)(a) of the Rules of the Court of Appeal had been fulfilled, as the evidence was not available and could not have been obtained with reasonable diligence since Budi95 and SARA100 only came into existence after the High Court trial concluded.
He said that the evidence sought to be introduced relates to events that occurred well after the conclusion of the trial in the High Court and after the hearing of the appeal before this court.
“It is therefore evidence of subsequent events.
“The fresh evidence, even if true, does not contradict any finding of fact made by the High Court, nor does it undermine any premise upon which the decision was reached.
“The further evidence that the appellant intends to adduce is not based on events that occurred before Jan 27, 2020,” Justice Mohamed Zaini said in the unanimous decision here yesterday.
The court then dismissed the application with no order as to costs.
It also fixed April 24 for case management to set the date for the decision on the main appeal.
The other judges on the bench were Justices Faizah Jamaludin and Mohd Radzi Abdul Hamid.
Indira is appealing a High Court decision from June 28, 2024, which dismissed her lawsuit against the IGP, the police, the Home Ministry and the government.
The High Court had ruled that the police used all resources to locate Muhammad Riduan.
Indira’s lawsuit, filed on Oct 28, 2020, claims the IGP deliberately disregarded the Federal Court’s mandamus order, failing to take appropriate action to return her daughter Prasana Diksa.
