PUTRAJAYA, Feb 10 — The Federal Court today divided the custody of two children involved in an interfaith row, giving the son to the Muslim father and the daughter to distraught Hindu mother S. Deepa.
A five-man bench comprising Tan Sri Raus Sharif, Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, Tan Sri Abdull Hamid Embong, Tan Sri Suriyadi Halim Omar and Datuk Seri Azahar Mohamed reached the decision after interviewing the children in chambers at the start of the case.
The panel led by Raus also set aside a Negri Sembilan High Court decision that granted Deepa full custody of her children, eight-year-old Nabil (Mithran) and 11-year-old Sharmila (Nur Nabila).
“Based on our meeting with the children, as for the boy Nabil, he said that he wants to be with the father and as for the girl, she said she wants to be with the mother.
“And we have found that Nabil is now staying in Kuala Pilah and schooling there, and Sharmila is now in Johor Baru studying in an international school, and it appears to us that both of them are settled with where they are, and is our view that we refer back to Section 88 (3) of the Law Reform Act where it said the court shall be guided by the best interest of the child.
“So what do we do? We set aside the order of the Court of Appeal and the High Court with regards to custody and make an order that the custody of the boy goes to the father and the custody of the girl goes to the mother,” Raus said.
He then ordered both parties to discuss access before the court adjourned.
When the hearing resumed, the court was told that the parties agreed to allow access to both the children in joint meetings to be held on a Saturday, once every two months.
The visit must also take place at the home of the children’s maternal grandmother, who is also a Muslim convert, from 10am until 3pm.
Izwan also agreed to pay a monthly maintenance of RM250 for Sharmila.
Both parties also agreed to be given reasonable telecommunication access to their children without limitation, according to availability.
The children, however, will not be allowed to stay overnight.
Deepa had in April 7, 2013, won custody of both her son and daughter at the Seremban High Court but Izwan ― formerly a Hindu ― snatched the boy from his ex-wife two days later.
Izwan had then justified the snatching with a 2012 Shariah Court order that granted him custody of the two children after he had converted them to Islam unilaterally although the civil courts overturned this.
On December 17, 2014, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s decision in the custody matter.
In the unanimous decision, the appellate court also dismissed Izwan’s application to set aside a recovery order that compelled him to return the couple’s son to Deepa.
On January 14 last year, Deepa was allowed a glimpse of her son after almost eight months since she was separated from him, but the Federal Court allowed Izwan to continue keeping the child, pending its disposal of the case.
