A father who had converted his three children to Islam without his wife's knowledge will face proceedings for contempt for refusing to return the youngest child to the mother despite a High Court decision nullifying the conversion.
Contempt proceedings will be filed against her ex-husband Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah, formerly known as K Patmanathan, to compel him to return five-year-old Prasana Diksa to her mother Indira, New Straits Times reported today.
"(In March 2010), the High Court had given custody of all three children to Indira. However, Indira's ex-husband, who had taken the youngest child away since April 2009, has refused to comply with the court order."Now that the High Court (on Thursday) has ruled that the three children's conversion to Islam by the father as null and void, we will be filing a contempt of court case against him (Mohd Ridzuan) for failing to return the child to the mother as per the custody order," Indira's lawyer M Kulasegaran (above, right) is quoted as saying.
The other two children have remained with the mother.
According to a decision by the National Fatwa Council in 2009, if a parent converts to Islam, the underaged child will become a Muslim and custody will be with the Muslim parent.
However, this is a contradiction of civil law, which grants both parents equal rights in deciding the religion of minor, and which led to Indira's protracted legal battle.
Meanwhile,Utusan Malaysia today reported that Mohd Ridzuan would appeal the High Court decision to reverse the conversion.
His counsel Hatim Musa confirmed that he has received instructions to file an appeal, the daily reported.
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