PUTRAJAYA – The Federal Court has set October 13 to hear the appeal by a 37-year-old woman to overturn a Court of Appeal decision in reinstating her as a Muslim.
Lawyer A. Surendra Ananth, representing the woman, confirmed to Bernama the hearing date of the appeal following a case management held on Monday.
On May 22 this year, the woman was given leave to proceed with her appeal in the Federal Court on six legal questions.
On January 13 this year, the Court of Appeal, in a 2-1 majority decision, allowed the appeals brought by the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MAIS) and the Selangor government to reinstate the woman as a Muslim.
On December 21, 2021, the Shah Alam High Court allowed the woman’s suit and declared that she is not a Muslim.
In her originating summons, the woman, who was born a Hindu to a Hindu father and a Buddhist mother, said she was turning 5-years-old when she was converted to Islam unilaterally by her mother in 1991 when her parents were in the midst of a divorce. The conversion took place at the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) office.
Her mother then married a Muslim man in 1993 and her father died in an accident three years later.
The woman claimed that despite her conversion into Islam, her mother and step-father allowed her to continue to practise the Hindu faith. She claimed that she never professed the religion of Islam.
On December 12, 2013, the woman filed a summons at the Kuala Lumpur shariah high court for a declaration that she was no longer a Muslim. On July 20, 2017, the shariah high court dismissed her summons and the shariah court of appeal dismissed her appeal on August 1, 2017, prompting her to file a suit in the civil high court.
Justice Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, who delivered the Court of Appeal majority decision, said the shariah high court and the shariah Court of Appeal had already decided that the woman is still a Muslim and thus it was a renunciation case which falls under the shariah court’s jurisdiction.
He said a judicial determination by the shariah court that a person is still a Muslim, like in the woman’s case, must necessarily mean that she is a Muslim and not one that was never a Muslim. – Bernama, July 26, 2023
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