Indira’s case is humanitarian issue, says Jihad for Justice

Chairman, Thasleem Mohamad implores religious leaders to forego emotion and look at the legal and humanitarian perspectives of the case.

KUALA LUMPUR: M Gandhi’s custody battle with her Muslim-convert ex-husband is not a religious issue, but a humanitarian one, stresses Jihad for Justice Chairman, Thasleem Mohamad Ibrahim.

“It is not a fight between Hindu and Islam. We should tell the religious leaders: For goodness sake, don’t say that it’s a victory for Islam. It is not,” Thasleem said at a forum themed “The implications of the court case and the way forward’, in reference to the Court of Appeal’s recent decision.

“Emotion should not come into the matter. Don’t paint the matter as being religious. The judges should only look at the legal aspect of it, and from the humanitarian point of view.”

“They should at least have had the consent of the mother, which they didn’t. The three children did not even recite the basic shahadah during their conversion,” he said.

The social justice advocate pointed to Surah Al-Baqarah 256, which indicates that there is no compulsion in the acceptance of Islam.

He said that the registrar of Muslim converts should also be investigated to see whether any regulations had been contravened during the conversion. “If so, the registrar should be taken to task.”

Thasleem was one of the speakers at a forum discussing the unilateral conversion of Indira’s three children to Islam by her ex-husband, and the Court of Appeal’s recent overturning of the Ipoh High Court’s ruling to quash the conversion.

His sentiments echo former Law Minister, Zaid Ibrahim’s comments that the case was never about religion.