Court: Both parents must consent to child’s conversion

PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has set aside the unilateral conversion of kindergarten teacher M. Indira Gandhi’s three children to Islam, ruling that both parents must give consent beforehand.

In a landmark decision, the five-man Bench, chaired by Court of Appeal President Justice Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, unanimously ruled that the certificate of conversion of Indira’s three children was issued without her consent, contravening the Federal Constitution and the Guardianship and Infants Act 1961.

“We allow the appeal. The Court of Appeal’s decision is now set aside.

“We affirm the orders by the High Court,” said Justice Zulkefli, who granted the application by Indira with no cost.

Indira had challenged the conversion of her three children to Islam by her ex-husband Muham­mad Riduan Abdullah.

Other judges on the panel were Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Richard Malanjun, Justices Zainun Ali, Abu Samah Nordin and Ramly Ali.

On Dec 30, 2015, the Court of Appeal reinstated the children’s conversion certificates after ruling that the civil High Court did not have jurisdiction to decide on the validity of children’s conversion, which was under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Syariah Court.

The children, two girls and a boy, now aged 20, 19, and nine, were converted to Islam by their father Muhammad Riduan Abdullah, (formerly known as K. Pathmanathan), 47, in April 2009 without the mother’s consent.

Victorious: Indira with her team of lawyers including Kulasegaran (front, right) and Aston Paiva (behind Indira). Also present is Philip Koh (second, left) who held a watching brief for the Malaysian Consultative Council for Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism. 

Tevi Darsiny was then 12, Karan Dinesh, 11, and the youngest Prasana Diksa, 11 months old.

The youngest daughter is with Muhammad Riduan while the two elder siblings, with their mother.

Other than her team of lawyers led by M. Kulasegaran, Indira was accompanied by her 75-year-old mother S. Renggamah during the proceedings yesterday.

Earlier, Justice Zainun, who read out the judgment, said when dealing with the conversion of a child, it was undoubtedly in the best interests of the child that consent from both parents must be sought.

She said if allowing the child to be converted based on only one parent’s consent “would give rise to practical conundrums”.

“Since the custody of the children has been granted to the appellant (Indira Gandhi), it is the appellant who exercises the dominant influence in their lives.

“To allow the other spouse to unilaterally convert the children without the consent of the appellant would amount to a serious interference with the lifestyle of the new fa­mily unit,” Justice Zainun said.

Indira and Pathmanaban were married on April 10, 1993. The husband converted to Islam on March 11, 2009.

Met by the media after the proceedings, Kulasegaran said that the decision meant that those whose conversion had “taken place wrongly” could seek redress at the civil courts.

Outside the court, Indira said that she was very happy, as she had been waiting nine years for the verdict.