KUALA LUMPUR – The high court here today granted an ex-parte application for leave by single mother Loh Siew Hong to initiate committal proceedings against her ex-husband Muhammad Nagahswaran Muniandy, who has been accused of abducting their three children and registering them as Muslim converts without her consent.
Judge Evrol Mariette Peters allowed the application after hearing arguments by Gunamalar Joorindanjn, who was representing Loh as the petitioner.
Earlier, Gunamalar told the court that Muhammad Nagahswaran, the respondent, violated a court order when he abducted their three children – a pair of 14-year-old twin girls and a 10-year-old boy.
He said Muhammad Nagahswaran has known from the beginning that Loh had been given sole custody, care and control of their children, but they ended up being taken from the mother without her consent.
“This shows that the respondent did not respect the order of this court,” said Gunamalar, who was also assisted by lawyer Tony Thian Yee Chin.
Gunamalar said the application was only filed on July 4 because the child’s whereabouts were previously unknown.
On June 15, the high court dismissed the Perlis Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council’s (MAIP) application to intervene in a divorce petition between Loh and Muhammad Nagahswaran so that it would have locus standi to apply for a variation on the terms of the sole custody order granted to Loh.
Peters, in her judgment, said MAIP had failed to show that it was an interested party in relation to the children and ordered MAIP to pay costs of RM8,000 to Loh.
The judge said the state religious body had also failed to seek the views of the former husband in relation to the bid to vary Loh’s full custody order.
On March 7, MAIP filed the intervention application so that it would have locus standi to apply for a variation on the terms of the sole custody order.
In the divorce petition, Loh, 34, was granted sole custody, care and control over the three children.
Meanwhile, Gunamalar told reporters that MAIPs’ appeal of the court’s decision to intervene in the divorce petition will be heard in the Court of Appeal on February 7, 2023. – Bernama, September 20, 2022
