KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 1 — Hindu mother M. Indira Gandhi said her younger daughter, Prasana Diksa, is free to remain a Muslim if she so desires, despite a Federal Court ruling annulling the girl’s unilateral conversion.
She was responding to the Malaysian Association of Muslim Scholars’ (PUM) call for the police to stop pursuing Indira’s fugitive ex-husband to recover Prasana, whom he abducted nine years ago.
“I don’t mind what religion my Prasana chooses. She can remain a Muslim if she likes. All I want is to have her back in my arms. I don’t know what she looks like now. Only the time she was a baby.
“Isn’t this unfair to me as her mother? To have her taken away from me without my knowledge?
“Religion is her personal choice. I won’t interfere or force. I only want my child back. Please don’t use religion to separate us,” Indira told Malay Mail when contacted last night.
In a statement posted on Facebook, PUM warned that religious strife may occur in Malaysia if the police continue to hunt for Muhammad Riduan Abdullah and Prasana.
PUM also said the children unilaterally converted into Islam by Muhammad Riduan must not be allowed to revert back to Hinduism.
However, Indira’s two older children have said they were firmly Hindu.
The group also requested the Yang di-Pertuan Agong allow them to advise on matters involving conversion to Islam.
PUM then demanded Putrajaya act fast on this matter, claiming the issue would embolden provocateurs in the country.
In a landmark ruling on Monday, the Federal Court said the civil courts have the exclusive jurisdiction to hear cases such as the Hindu mother’s challenge against the validity of her Muslim convert ex-husband’s unilateral conversion of their three children to Islam in 2009.
In its unanimous decision to nullify Muslim convert Muhammad Riduan’s unilateral conversion of his three children to Islam, the Federal Court also clarified the long-standing debate ― stemming from language differences on parental consent for religious conversion, ruling that a child from a civil marriage can only be converted to Islam with the consent of both parents.
After the landmark court ruling, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun pledged that the police will continue hunting down Muhammad Riduan to execute a court order Indira previously obtained to compel the agency to retrieve and return Prasana to her.
