Businessperson appeals to be declared non-Muslim

A businessperson who was born and raised in the Hindu faith has turned to the civil appellate court to be declared a non-Muslim.

The 45-year-old is seeking the Court of Appeal to reverse a March 18 ruling of the Seremban High Court that allowed the Negeri Sembilan Religious Council’s (Mains) application to strike out her lawsuit.

The appellant's counsel S Karthigesan confirmed with Malaysiakini that the appeal was filed after the lower court delivered its verdict.

The lawyer said they will study the High Court's full grounds of judgment released on June 13.

For appeals before the Court of Appeal, the appellant is not only required to file the notice of appeal but also the petition of appeal which includes the full written grounds of judgment that the appellant disagrees with.

On March 18, judicial commissioner Mohamad Haldar Abdul Aziz allowed Mains' bid to strike out the woman's originating summons before it could go for a full trial of its merits.

Besides Mains, the other two defendants targeted by the lawsuit are the federal government and the National Registration Department (NRD).

Only Mains filed the striking out application, on the contention that the woman's childhood conversion into Islam by her Muslim-convert father was valid under the state's religious enactment and that any renunciation bid should have been made before the state syariah courts.

According to the grounds of judgment, Haldar said the civil court has no jurisdiction to hear challenges over a person's Islamic status and that only the syariah courts have the power.

"In conclusion, in light of the applicant's application being laid in the jurisdiction of syariah courts, therefore, the applicant's action in filing the originating summons in this civil court amounted to an abuse of court process," the civil court judge ruled.

According to the originating summons filed at the civil court in March last year, the businessperson contended that her father converted her when she was four years old in 1982.

The woman contended that her legal challenge should be allowed as she never recited the Kalimah Syahadah - the Islamic proclamation for non-Muslims to embrace the faith.

She argued that she never practised Islam in her life, had never gone to a mosque, or celebrated any related religious holidays.

Instead, she said she is a practising Hindu, contending that she was born into Hinduism in 1978 and was raised as one by a relative since she was four years old, attending temples for worship.

Married to non-Muslim

In 1997, she married a non-Muslim man in Shah Alam, Selangor, and their marital union resulted in two children, in 1999 and 2005 respectively.

However, when NRD was issuing the two children's birth certificates, it was discovered that the woman's registered religion was Islam.

In 2017, the Selangor Syariah High Court dismissed the woman's application to renounce Islam, on the grounds that she was a registered resident of Negeri Sembilan and only that state's religious court has jurisdiction over the matter.

Among the points of dispute in the case, as laid out in Haldar's judgment, is whether the woman had ever gone to the Negeri Sembilan Syariah Court to renounce her faith before turning to the civil court. - Mkini