Bi-Anne wants say in custody battle - Eleven-year-old Low Bi-Anne wants to have a say on matters concerning her custody before the Court of Appeal

Bi-Anne wants say in custody battle

PUTRAJAYA: Eleven-year-old Low Bi-Anne wants to have a say on matters concerning her custody before the Court of Appeal.

An application has been filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court, seeking leave from the court to appoint social worker B. Vijayakumari G. A. Pillai, 60, as guardian ad litem to Bi-Anne.

(A guardian ad litem is a volunteer appointed by the court to protect the rights and advocate the best interests of a child involved in a court proceeding.)

The application is scheduled to be heard before a senior assistant registrar tomorrow.

Under the law, a guardian ad litem is required to be appointed for the child to enable her to get the locus standi to appear and participate in the court proceedings.

The application was filed under Rule 86 (1) and (2), Rules of the Proceedings Divorce and Matri­monial 1980 and Order 76 Rules of the High Court 1980 by lawyer Jagjit Singh on Nov 9 last year.

In the application, Jagjit said he was approached by Please Save the Child Association president B. Vijayakumari, who had read about Bi-Anne in local newspapers.

Yesterday, the Court of Appeal’s three-man panel led by Justice Low Hop Bing adjourned the hearing of the appeals to March 2 after lawyer K. Bowanes informed the court that she had received instructions from Bi-Anne’s mother Tan Siew Siew, 37, to stop acting on her behalf on the matters before the court.

Justice Low directed Tan, a restaurant manager in London, to engage a new counsel on or before the next hearing date to represent her in the six appeals.

On Sept 13, last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court fined Bi-Anne’s father, Low Swee Siong, RM20,000 and a RM400 fine for each day of delay in handing over the girl to Tan for disobeying a court order.

Low and Tan were married in 1999 and divorced in 2006.

In 2008, Tan applied for and won custody of Bi-Anne. Low was given reasonable access.

However, Bi-Anne refused to be with her mother and insisted she wanted to live with her father.

On Jan 28 this year, Bi-Anne’s parents failed to settle her custody amicably via mediation. — Bernama

Read more/More news on: http://thestar.com.my/news/

Credits to and source taken from: http://thestar.com.my/news/