Inter-faith custody battles give Islam a bad name, says Shariah lawyer

Indira with her two older children, whom she says are doing well in their studies. She pines for her youngest, Prasana Diksa, who was taken away from her 5 years ago. - The Malaysian Insider pic, July 5, 2014.The current inter-faith custody battles are giving Islam a bad name as under Islamic family law, mothers are given priority to have custody of children below the age of nine, said a Shariah lawyer.

"The mother, irrespective whether she is a Muslim or non-Muslim, is well equiped to bond with her infant child unless the father could prove otherwise," said the woman lawyer who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The lawyer, who handles matrimonial matters in the Shariah courts, said the plight of S.Deepa and M.Indira Gandhi, and the conduct of their ex-husbands who have converted to Islam, have put the religion in a negative light.

"Islam is a religion based on justice and compasssion and the trouble both women from a minority community are going through is a real cause for concern," she said in responding to the on-going court battles over the custody of their children.

She said as a woman and mother, she felt the agony and anguish Deepa and Indira are going through.

Three months ago, the High Court in Seremban granted Deepa custody of Sharmila and Mithran, both of whom had been converted to Islam by her former husband, Izwan, who was previously known as N. Viran, without her knowledge.

Judge Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof said the High Court had jurisdiction to dissolve the couple's union and provide other reliefs like custody of children because the marriage was registered under civil law.

However, Izwan then abducted Mithran from Deepa's home in Jelebu two days after the court verdict, saying it was for the child's "protection".

Deepa then obtained a recovery order from the High Court on May 21 to get police to search for Izwan and Mithran.

Meanwhile, in Indira's case, her ex-husband, Muhammad Ridzuan Abdullah is also yet to hand over their youngest daughter to her despite a 2010 Ipoh High Court order awarding her custody of their three children, whom Ridzuan had converted to Islam.

Ridzuan has held on to Prasana Diksa since April 2009 when she was 11 months old, while their two older children returned to Indira.

Last July, the Ipoh High Court, in a landmark ruling by judge Lee Swee Seng, quashed the certificates of conversion of the three children and ruled that the conversions were null and void because they were unconstitutional.

Last month, the court also granted Indira a recovery order to compel police to locate Ridzuan and hand over Prasana Diksa to the mother.

Indira went one step further to have Ridzuan jailed if he contiuned to hold on to Prasana.

However, in both cases police refused to act on the civil court orders on the grounds that Shariah courts had also issued custody orders to the ex-husbands, and such orders had equal standing as that of the civil courts.

Last week, Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail and Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar went to court to be interveners and stay the recovery orders.

Meanwhile, Sally Wangsawijaya of the Women's Aid Organisation (WAO) that is assisting Deepa (pic) in her legal battle against Izwan, said her client had gone into hiding, fearing she might now also lose her daughter.

"The mother is too distraught after the incident when the son was taken away and she is suspicious of strangers lurking around her home," said Wangsawijaya, a social worker with WAO.

She said Deepa's personality has changed for the worse following events after the abduction.

"She was a cheerful person but now keeps to herself. The tussle for the children has had a devastating effect on her," she told The Malaysian Insider, adding that Deepa had even changed her mobile telephone number.

Meanwhile Indira, a kindergarten teacher said words could not describe how frustrated she felt when Ridzuan's lawyer only produced Prasana's photograph last month when she was finally expecting to be reunited with the daughter.

"We were separated from Prasana when she was still being breastfed and I did not even have a chance to hear her baby talk after that," she told The Malaysian Insider.

Ridzuan's lawyer Anas Fauzi had said his client was not in the right frame of mind to comply with a court order to return the child. Both father and daughter are said to be in Kota Baru, Kelantan.

Indira said although she had her differences with Ridzuan, it was not right for him to use their children as pawns.

Even now, should Prasana be in my custody, I will surely allow him access to all three children," she said in a voice choked with emotion.

Indira also said that her two older children are doing well in their studies.

"Both obtained 7As in the Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah. But I do not know the progress of Prasana who is six now," she said.

Indira also did not mince her words for the failure of the police to act on a court order.

"If they can track down terrorists, don't tell me they cannot find Prasana," she said.

Women's Centre for Change executive director Loh Cheng Kooi questioned whether Gani and Khalid were delaying the mothers from getting justice by going to court.

"They (the mothers) had gone through the legal process to get back their children but there is no result for their hard work," she said.

Loh said it would have been better for police to execute the recovery order and allow appellate court to decide on the final outcome.

"It is really painful to see the mothers given the runaround when they want to be united with their infant children," she said.

Loh added that the separation would have lasting effects on the children if the custody disputes dragged on.

- TMI