Hindu mum allowed review of kids’ Islam conversion

Indira is seeking to nullify her children’s conversion to Islam by her estranged husband. — file pic

IPOH, July 28 — Kindergarten teacher M. Indira Gandhi was granted leave today by the High Court here for a judicial review to quash her children’s conversion to Islam.
Lawyer M. Kulasegaran told The Malaysian Insider shortly after the matter was heard in chambers — where High Court Judge Zainal Adzam Abdul Ghani concurred that the matter was of public interest and should be disposed off quickly.
“He (Zainal) asked us if we wanted to wait for the decision on S. Shamala’s case in the Federal Court but we appealed to proceed with the matter. We should not delay on this any longer for it would affect the lives of the children involved,” Kulasegaran said.
He said Indira’s lawyers have 14 days to prepare a formal application to seek a hearing date from the court.
When contacted, Indira told The Malaysian Insider she was merely “cautiously happy” that she had been given an opportunity for her matter to be heard.
“I hope everything goes smoothly for it involves the livelihood of my children. I wish I did not have to fight this but what choice do I have? I do not want my kids to be Muslims and they do not want it either. I had to do something,” she said.
In Indira’s original application for leave last year, she had named six defendants: conversion authority Perak Muallaf registrar, the Perak Islamic Religious Department (JAIP), the Perak government, the education minister, the Malaysian government, and her estranged husband, K. Pathmanathan (now known as Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah).
Indira, who was granted custody of her three children — Prasana Diksa, two; Tevi Darsiny, 13; and Karan Dinish, 12 — by the court on March 11, is seeking to nullify her children’s conversion to Islam by their father without her consent on April 3 last year.
Mohd Ridzuan was previously granted a similar custody order but from the Syariah High Court and has since chosen to ignore the civil High Court’s decision, claiming that as a Muslim-convert, he was now bound by Syariah law.
When Indira’s application for leave was brought before the court on April 2, it was delayed to April 30 for the matter involved complex points of law and would likely be a landmark decision.
On April 30, however, it was delayed again to May 7, pending the decision from the Federal Court on Shamala’s case, which is similar to Indira’s.
However, Shamala’s case was also delayed after her Muslim convert husband, Dr Muhammad Ridzwan Mogarajah, challenged the practicality of proceedings in the absence of the mother, who had apparently fled the country for Australia.
In Indira’s case, the defendants have been arguing that the civil High Court had no jurisdiction to hear the matter as it involved three Muslim children.
But the plaintiff’s lawyers have continued to maintain that, as a non-Muslim, Indira had no other avenue for legal redress other than in the civil courts.
Indira is also arguing that during the time of the conversion last year only her Muslim-convert husband had been present.
He had named his eldest Tevi Darsiny as Umu Salamah; his son Karan Dinish, Abu Bakar; and toddler Prasana Diksa as Umu Habibah.
It is believed that Mohd Ridzuan presently resides in Kelantan with Prasana, whose whereabouts he has refused to reveal.