Sept 12 decision on leave to commence contempt against 5 religious officers

The Kuala Lumpur High Court has fixed Sept 12 to decide whether to grant leave to a mother to proceed with contempt proceedings against five Kota Tinggi Islamic Religious Council officers for harassment.

The civil court judge Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid set the date during an online hearing of the ex-parte (only the applicant’s legal team was present) committal leave application this morning.

Lawyer Rajesh Nagarajan represented the 25-year-old mother, who is one of 14 applicants in the legal action targeting the states’ conversion laws that allow only one parent to convert their children to Islam.

During the brief Zoom hearing, the counsel repeated their claim that the mother was at her home with her children in Kota Tinggi on March 29 when the five religious officers allegedly paid a visit and purportedly harassed her and scolded her for filing the legal challenge over the validity of seven states’ unilateral conversion laws.

“Immediately after this happened, she became fearful for her safety and was afraid to continue with (the legal action).

“This is an affront to the administration of justice, and the Kota Tinggi Islamic Religious Council falls under the state of Johor, who is one of the seven respondents in the legal action.

“Our application for leave if given is so that the Majlis Agama Islam (Kota Tinggi) can be served (the cause papers) and defend themselves in the inter partes stage (when all parties are present in court hearings) to explain themselves what they did,” Rajesh said.

In the event that the civil court grants leave, then it would set a separate date to hear oral submissions on whether the five religious officers should be cited for contempt.

Under the law, a party found guilty of contempt of court may be sentenced to jail.

Obstruction of justice

On April 12, the mother, who was allegedly unilaterally converted when young, filed to cite the committal application against the five Johor religious officers.

Back on March 29, Rajesh told Malaysiakini that she was allegedly harassed over her role as one of the 14 applicants in a legal challenge against seven states’ unilateral conversion laws.

According to a copy of the committal application, the mother claimed that the five religious officers had committed “obstruction of the due course of justice”.

On March 3 before the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, the mother and M Indira Gandhi as well as 12 other applicants filed the legal action to strike down the unilateral conversion laws of seven states, including Johor.

The plaintiffs seek to rely on the landmark 2018 apex court ruling linked to the case of Indira’s Muslim convert ex-husband, who unilaterally converted their three children without her knowledge and consent.

The legal action seeks a court declaration to nullify the unilateral conversion laws contained in the state enactments of the Federal Territories, as well as Perlis, Kedah, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Perak, and Johor.

Besides Indira, 48, the other 13 applicants are NGOs Malaysia Hindu Sangam, its former chairperson S Mohan, Indira Gandhi Action Team chairperson Arun Dorasamy, the mother, and another alleged victim of unilateral conversion, and eight citizens from the states.

The plaintiffs contended that the impugned state enactments are invalid for contravening Articles 12(4) and 75 of the Federal Constitution as well as the 2018 Federal Court ruling regarding unilateral conversion.

They listed the seven state enactments that allegedly contravened the Federal Court ruling over the phrase ‘ibu bapa’ of Article 12(4) of the Federal Constitution, which the apex court interpreted as ‘ibu dan bapa’ (mother and father) for the purpose of consent for child religious conversions.

These enactments are Section 117 of the Administration of the Religion Islam (Perlis) Enactment 2006, Section 80 of the Administration of Islamic Law (Kedah) Enactment 2008, Section 105 of the Administration of the Religion of Islam (Malacca) Enactment 2002, Section 117 of the Administration of the Religion of Islam (Negeri Sembilan) Enactment 2003, Section 106 of the Administration of the Religion of Islam (Perak) Enactment 2004, Section 117 of the Administration of the Religion of Islam (Johor) Enactment 2003, and the Administration of Islamic Law (Federal Territories) 1993. - Mkini