S. Deepa was granted custody of Sharmila and Mithran, both of whom had been converted to Islam by her husband last year without her knowledge. Her son is now with the father who abducted the boy. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, July 2, 2014.
Two Hindu mothers have been denied justice and protection under the law following the move by the attorney-general and the inspector-general of police to intervene in their controversial interfaith custody disputes, lawyers said.
They said the High Court had issued recovery orders to the women and police should have swiftly executed the directive.
The lawyers also said the court was not the forum to find a permanent solution to cases of unilateral conversion as such cases would crop up in future.
They were of the view that instituting legal reforms was a better option than asking the court to interpret the Federal Constitution and the law.
Last week, A-G Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail and IGP Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar filed applications in the Court of Appeal to be interveners in the disputes.
They also want the appellate court to stay the recovery orders granted to S. Deepa and M. Indira Gandhi to compel the police to locate their children who are with their former husbands.
Gani and Khalid said the court had acted beyond its authority in giving the orders under the Child Act 2011.
They said a stay of the orders was vital or else their attempt to appeal would be futile as the status of the High Court and Shariah Court under Article 121 (1A) of the Federal Constitution had to be determined.
Gani in a statement on June 26 also indicated that he might consider going to the Federal Court to get a legal opinion on constitutional issues arising from these cases.
He said the cases were of a public interest because they touched on religious sensitivity and posed a potential threat to public order.
Lawyer Meera Samanther said the authorities were acting as if they were above the law in refusing to act on court orders.
"The IGP should have instructed his men to act immediately once the orders were served on him," said Samanther, who is also president of the Association for Women Lawyers.
She questioned why the A-G and the IGP chose to ignore the plight of the mothers.
"Why have these cases become a potential threat to public order?" she asked.
Samanther said justice and legal protection for the two women were only a distant dream as the police have refused to comply with a directive from the judiciary.
She also said Putrajaya must act on the 2007 memorandum submitted by a group of NGOs calling for amendments to certain laws following the legal tussle in a 2004 unilateral conversion case involving S. Shamala and Dr C.M. Jeyaganesh.
The NGOs wanted the Federal Constitution, the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act, the Distribution Act and the Infants and Guardianship Act be amended to render justice to the non-converting wives and children.
Lawyer Ravi Neko said it was not common for a civil court to issue such orders as in custody battles the spouse would also be given visitation rights.
"However, in these cases, the mothers had gone to court because the Muslims fathers are still holding on to the children despite custody having been awarded to Deepa and Indira," said Ravi, a Bar Council member.
He said both Izwan Abdullah and Muhammad Ridzuan Abdullah were now in contempt of court for violating the custody order issued by the civil court.
Ravi said the marriages of these couples were solemnised by civil law and, therefore, dissolution of their union and reliefs must be decided by the civil court.
On April 7, Seremban High Court judge Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof granted Deepa custody of Sharmila and Mithran, both of whom had been converted to Islam by her husband last year without her knowledge.
The judge allowed Deepa's application as the civil court had jurisdiction over the matter and provide the relief for custody and dissolution of the couple's marriage.
Two days later, Izwan abducted Mithran, saying it was for the child's "protection".
She then obtained a recovery order from the High Court on May 21 to get police to search for Izwan and Mithran.
In Indira's case, her ex-husband, Ridzuan, had also yet to hand over their youngest daughter to her despite a 2010 Ipoh High Court order awarding custody of their three children to the mother.
Ridzuan has held on to Prasana Diksa since April 2009.
The Shariah High Court in Ipoh had in 2009 given Ridzuan custody of the three children after he unilaterally converted them to Islam.
However, in July last year, the Ipoh High Court quashed the certificates of conversion of the three children and ruled that the certificates were null and void because they were unconstitutional.
Last month, the court also issued an order to arrest Ridzuan but police have yet to act on it.
- TMI
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