[UPDATED] Court grants Loh’s habeas corpus application, orders return of children

KUALA LUMPUR – Single mother Loh Siew Hong has been granted a writ of habeas corpus by the high court here today against the unlawful detention of her three children. 

Judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah, when delivering his judgement, agreed with Loh’s lawyer A. Srimurugan that respondents in this matter had gone against court orders issued in 2019 and 2021 that grants the single mother full custody of the children.

“By reason of these court orders there, I allow the application for the writ of habeas corpus as per Enclosure-1 of the notice of motion. 

“The three children are to be released forthwith into the sole custody, care, and control of the applicant,” said Sequerah.

Earlier during submissions, Srimurugan had argued that Loh had been subjected to inhumane treatment by authorities after they denied her repeated requests to meet her three children prior to today’s decision.

He explained how the 2019 court order, which stemmed from an ex parte interim order granted in December that year, should have been sufficient to compel parties to reunite the children with their mother.

Two years later, Srimurugan said a second court order was obtained in March last year by Loh, granting her sole custody, care, and control of her children.

“Even when armed with a court order, she cannot stand one foot away from (her children), and to me, that is the highest level of disrespect one can give towards a biological mother when a person can act with impunity in not respecting the court order,” he said.

Loh’s application today named Nazirah Nanthakumari Abdullah, a religious teacher at the Hidayah Centre Foundation, as the first respondent, and whichever party is currently detaining her three children as the second respondent in the case.

It is understood the three children, twin girls aged 14 and a boy aged 10, were present in the witness holding room during today’s proceeding and have since been reunited with their mother.

In response to Srimurugan’s submission, Aidil Khalid, representing the first respondent, argued that the matter of seeking a habeas corpus against his client had become academic, seeing how the children are no longer under Nazirah’s care.

Aidil also produced transcripts of WhatsApp chats between Loh and Nazirah, asserting how the messages had shown how the latter had made attempts to reunite the children with their mother, but was never successful due to unforeseen circumstances.

He submitted how it was Nazirah who had initiated contact with Loh, informing her of her children’s whereabouts, and disagreed with the assertions by Loh that her children were detained unlawfully.

“The first respondent never held the children illegally or unlawfully, as she got to know about the children when their own father brought them to her in July 2020.

“She had no physical control over the children, as they stayed in hostels during school and would only meet them during the school holidays. She never held them physically; therefore, there cannot be any form of illegal detention by the first respondent,” said Aidil.

Aidil said since she was introduced to the children by their own father, Nazirah would have not much reason to suspect anything amiss that could have led to the illegal or unlawful detention.

In response, Srimurugan reiterated the existence of the court orders granting Loh full custody over her children, and argued the matter was not academic if there are misconducts that can be identified before Sequerah delivered his judgement.

Loh’s plight recently made headlines after she was refused permission to meet with her children, whom she had been trying to locate for the past three years since being discharged from the hospital.

She had lost contact with the three children while undergoing treatment for injuries purportedly stemming from an abusive marriage with her ex-husband, Nagashwaran Muniandy.

It was during this void that Nagashwaran is said to have unilaterally converted his children into Islam, following his own conversion without Loh’s knowledge.

Following the change of faith, Nagashwaran was then convicted and imprisoned for narcotics-related charges and continues to be incarcerated until November this year.

Loh has since divorced Nagashwaran and only managed to meet her children thrice over the last two weeks, before being reunited with them today. – The Vibes, February 21, 2022