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PUTRAJAYA – A leave application filed by the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais), seeking to quash past judgements that affirmed the illegality of unilateral child conversions, was dismissed by the Federal Court here today.
The unanimous decision was made during a virtual proceeding held via Zoom, with the three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, and judges Datuk Ong Lam Kiat Vernon and Datuk Seri Hasnah Mohammed Hashim.
“The application does not meet the threshold of Section 967 of the Courts of Judicature Act for leave to be granted. The issue before us has been settled by the decision of this court in M. Indira Gandhi’s case. The courts below were therefore correct in following Indira Gandhi.
“Further provision of Section 117 of the enactment is very clear that a person who is not Muslim may convert to the religion of Islam if he is of sound mind and attain 18 years, or if he has not attained, the mother and father must consent to the conversion.
“The application is therefore dismissed,” Tengku Maimun was quoted saying by Malay Mail Online, when delivering her judgement earlier today.
Costs amounting to RM30,000 was also granted to the mother of the children by the court.
Speaking to the press, Indira Gandhi Action Team (Ingat) chairman Arun Doraisamy, whose client Indira obtained a landmark court decision in 2018 that outlawed unilateral conversions, said today’s dismissal meant the end of the road concerning this particular case.
Despite not being party to today’s proceedings, Arun said the nature of the appeal that initially sought to reverse Indira’s 2018 judgement warranted their attention.
“We wanted to watch and see what was happening today, and I can reveal the application that was put before the Federal Court today was rejected. This means the idea of trying to reverse Indira’s unilateral conversion dies here, and there is no further action.
“If the application had been granted, then we would have applied to become party to the proceedings as any decision made then would have directly affected us,” he said when met outside the Palace of Justice here today.
According to reports, today’s case involves the unilateral conversion of five young children in 2015, at that time aged between three to nine years old, by their convert father without the consent of their non-Muslim mother.
The mother’s previous suits, which included a judicial review seeking to quash the unilateral conversions, were affirmed by the Kuala Lumpur High Court in 2020 and then later by the appellate court last year.
The high court judgement affirming the illegality of the conversions had cited the judgement from Indira’s 2018 case as the binding judgement, with the Court of Appeal affirming this a year later.
It was reported how the unilateral conversions were undertaken by the children’s father after he converted into Islam as part of his custody battle in the couple’s divorce proceedings.
It was said the mother only found out about her children’s conversions through a letter sent to her by Mais, who confirmed the matter four years later in August 2019.
This prompted her to initiate the original judicial review against the two Mais figures, the education director-general, her ex-husband, and the Malaysian government, seeking to remove the children’s names from Mais’ and Selangor’s state registry of Muslim converts.
The appeal was then successful when high court judge Datuk Seri Tun Abd Majid Tun Hamzah ruled in July 2020 in her favour and quashed the legality of the unilateral conversions.
Following the high court’s findings, the Education Ministry and the federal government decided to not object or appeal against the judgement, with only Mais looking to reverse the ruling.
When Mais had appealed the high court’s decision in the Court of Appeal, yet again the lower court’s ruling was affirmed and upheld, interestingly this time by an all Muslim three-judge bench.
The appellate court judges had also cited Indira’s case as the binding and superior judgement that outlawed unilateral conversions done on underage children, before today’s federal court dismissal.
Today’s unsuccessful appeal was also filed by Mais’ chairman and the Mais registrar of muallaf or Muslim converts. – The Vibes, January 26, 2022
