GEORGE TOWN, June 12 — The family of a woman whose body was taken from a Taoist funeral by Islamic religious authorities is seeking for the courts to declare her a Buddhist amid continued wrangling over her religion.

Together with the application filed through lawyers Ramkarpal Singh Deo, Gobind Singh Deo and S.Raveentharan at the Penang High Court today, Tan Mah Suan also seeking to prevent Penang Islamic authorities from interfering in the funeral rites.

“She is also filing for an injunction to demand for the respondents to hand the body back to Teoh’s family,” Ramkarpal said

Tan is also demanding damages, costs and other relief deemed fit by the court.

Jaipp, Penang Islamic Affairs Council (Maipp) and the Penang Hospital were named as respondents in Tan’s application.

Teoh’s Taoist style funeral on June 9 was interrupted by the Penang Islamic Religious Department (Jaipp) officers who told her family that the 38-year-old waitress had converted to Islam and so must be buried according to Muslim rites.

Teoh’s body was taken to the Penang Hospital mortuary for Muslim funeral rites to be performed but her body is yet to be buried due to the dispute over her religion.

Today, Ramkarpal said the matter must be treated urgently as Teoh’s body remains in a mortuary despite her death on June 7.

He noted that the Penang Shariah Court will deliver its decision on Teoh’s religious status this afternoon and acknowledged that this will have bearing on Tan’s application.

“A lot is dependent on that decision, if they rule Teoh was not a Muslim, this application will be redundant but the injunctions will be a safeguard for the family in the event of any appeal proceedings,” he said.

He also said the outcome of the shariah court decision will also affect Teoh’s four children, whose religious status are also now in question.

“In the event Maipp is successful in shariah court, then there is the appeal process that needs to be exhausted so this application to the high court is important to safeguard the family’s interest,” he said.

In her application, Tan pleads that Teoh had never converted to Islam and had always practised Buddhism and Taoism.

She claimed that Teoh’s identity card also stated she was Buddhist and that, to hers and her family’s knowledge, Teoh had never been a Muslim.