Deepa ruling did not address unilateral conversion issue, says church federation

Feb 12, 2016

KAULA LUMPUR: The recent Federal Court decision in the custody battle of S. Deepa failed to take into account the fact that her two children were unilaterally converted by their Muslim convert father, the Council of Churches of Malaysia (CCM) said.

CCM general secretary Dr Hermen Shastri said the Hindu mother's plea to be awarded custody of both children, on grounds that the father had abrogated his responsibilities in not obtaining the consent of the mother to convert them, was not given any weight.

However, he said the judgment which ruled that the civil court should decide the custody of children who were converted to Islam, was an important precedent that a non-converting spouse can resort to the civil courts to address marital grievances.

Shastri said the fact that the judgment stated that "both the children had embraced Islam and the Civil High Court did not disturb the conversion", meant that the children would remain Muslims.

"In other words, the children who were converted without the consent of the non-Muslim parent, will remain as Muslims.

"Sharmila @Nur Nabila, the daughter of Madam Deepa will be brought up as a 'Hindu' by her mother.

"What guarantee is there that she will not face religious harassment from the Islamic authorities later?" he questioned in a statement today.

Shastri also asked what would happen if the girl decided to marry a non-Muslim one day, adding that the right of the children to determine their own religion once they became adults was taken away from them.

He said the five-man bench had set aside the Seremban High Court decision granting Deepa full custody of her two children.

"This goes to show that the judgment will not serve as a helpful precedent, unless the issue of unilateral conversion is addressed.

"This judgment will only blur further interfaith custody issues that will come up in future with one religion having the right of privilege and dominance," he said.

The Federal Court yesterday granted Deepa custody of her daughter Sharmila, and her son Mithran to his father Izwan Abdullah.

Tan Sri Raus Sharif who chaired a five-man bench said that the High Court should not have issued a recovery order under the Child Act because the custody order from the Shariah Court was also recognised under civil law.

The bench set aside the High Court recovery order and revoked the Shariah Court custody order.

It went on to vary the High Court's custody order where both children were supposed to be under Deepa's care.

Raus said the variation order was made as the children were settled well in their present environment.

“We are guided by the best interest of the children as stated under Section 88(1) of the Law Reform Act (Marriage and Divorce) 1976,” he had said.

The court also ruled that a non-Muslim marriage did not dissolve when one party embraced Islam.--The Malaysian Insider