Now Deepa wants to take family’s conversion case to court

PETALING JAYA: S Deepa, whose two children were converted to Islam by her husband without her knowledge in 2009, apparently intends to take the matter to court following the Federal Court’s landmark ruling in the M Indira Gandhi case.

In a Facebook posting yesterday, she vowed to take legal action, claiming the Shariah court conversion was not legal.

Her assertion came just three days after the Federal Court decided to set aside the unilateral conversion of M Indira Gandhi’s three children.

Addressing her ex-husband Izwan Abdullah, Deepa said that prior to embracing Islam himself he was a Hindu.

“So Shariah court not valid for Hindu child. You must divorce at civil court and take custody order at civil court first. So my child was Hindu,” she claimed.

“I will challenge you and see you in court,” she added.

Izwan, who was then known as N Viran, converted to Islam in November 2012, after the couple got married under civil law in 2003.

He also converted their seven-year old daughter V Sharmila, naming her Nurul Nabila, and five-year old son, V Mitran (Nabil), to Islam without their mother’s knowledge.

On Feb 10, 2016, the Federal Court ruled to vary a High Court custody order that awarded the two children to Deepa, who is a Hindu.

After the judges spoke to the children in chambers, the court split the custody, granting Nabil to Izwan, while Shamila was placed under Deepa.

In an interview published in The Star on Wednesday, Izwan said his case was different from Indira Gandhi’s and he would not allow both his children to become apostates.

He said Deepa and he had since remarried and he claimed that they remained good friends.

“We have our own families and I hope people will not associate us with the Indira case,” he said.

He was asked about the Federal Court’s decision on Jan 29 to annul the conversion of Indira’s three children after ruling that any conversion of non-Muslim children must get the consent of both parents.

The court also decreed that only the civil court would decide on such matters.

The ruling put an end to the interfaith custody battle that followed after Indira’s ex-husband Muhammad Riduan Abdullah, formerly known as K Pathmanathan, converted the children without her knowledge in 2009.

Tevi Darsiny was 12 years old, her brother Karan Dinish was 11 and younger sister Prasana Diksa was 11 months old when they were taken away by Riduan in 2009.

Tevi and Karan, who are presently 21 and 20 respectively, are now with Indira. However, Prasana, who turns 10 this year, remains missing to this day. -FMT