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Thursday, July 24, 2014

Custody row: Judges pull out of AG's intervene bid


The hearing of the attorney-general's  application to be an intervener in the child custody cases of S Deepa and M Indira Gandhi's was deferred by the Court of Appeal today after two judges recused themselves.

This followed an objection by lawyer K Shanmuga representing both Deepa and Indira Gandhi to the presence of Justice Mohd Zawawi Mohd Salleh and Justice Umi Kalthum Abdul Majid on the bench.

Before becoming a judge, Shanmuga said, Justice Zawawi headed the Syariah Advisory Division in the AG's Chambers during the R Subashini case, in which the AG's Chambers discussed the amendment of several existing laws pertaining to the conversion of a spouse to Islam with the children, while the other spouse remained with his/her original religion.

Justice Umi Kalthum then asked if her presence on the bench would be objected as well, since she was the head of the civil division of the AG Chambers at  that time.

To this, Shanmuga said since Justice Umi Kalthum had highlighted the matter, they would also feel uncomfortable with her hearing the current case.

"I apologise for raising the matter now, as I only discovered this (the composition of the bench) today," the lawyer said.

However, senior federal counsel Suzana Atan, for the AG's Chambers, objected, arguing that the matter was just an application to intervene and not a proper appeal hearing.

After confiding with both Justice Zawai and Justice Umi Kalthum, Justice Linton Albert, who is heading the bench, said the two decided to recuse themselves in the interest of justice.

"Are you comfortable with me on the bench," asked Linton, to which Shanmuga replied in the affirmative.

The Court of Appeal then fixed Sept 10 to hear the AG's application to be intervener in both the cases.

[More to follow]

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