KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 — S. Deepa, the other Hindu mother previously embroiled in a custody battle for her children with her Muslim convert ex-husband, is now planning to file a legal challenge to have her two children declared as non-Muslims.
In a public Facebook post on her profile yesterday, Deepa insisted to ex-husband Izwan Abdullah, born N. Viran, that they should have divorced in a civil court first, and their children should have remained Hindus.
“So my child was Hindu ..... I will challenge you and see you in court,” she wrote, attaching a link to a news report on Izwan insisting that the couple’s case was not similar to M. Indira Gandhi’s.
Deepa has not responded to Malay Mail ’s request for further clarification at the time of writing.
On February 10, 2016, the Federal Court had altered a High Court custody order, granting custody of the couple’s son to the father Izwan, while Deepa retained custody of their daughter.
The court however, did not say whether the civil courts or the Shariah courts would have the power to decide on the religious status of children who were unilaterally converted to Islam, leaving the children’s religious status undecided.
Izwan had earlier this week maintained that his case involving Deepa would not be affected by the Federal Court’s landmark decision in Indira’s case, and he would not allow this children to revert back to their original religion after being converted to Islam.
Similar to Indira’s case, their case was also controversial as Izwan had snatched the boy away from his ex-wife after he unilaterally converted the children to Islam.
In 2013, the Shariah court had issued a custody order to Izwan, after he had converted both his children.
On April 7 the following year, the High Court granted Deepa custody of her children, only to have them snatched from her two days later, by Izwan.
When the case was brought to the Federal Court, after dividing the custody order, its five-men bench also ruled that matters involving custody or divorce in civil marriages should only be handled by the civil courts and not the Shariah system, unless both husband and wife are Muslims.
In a landmark ruling, the Federal Court voided the unilateral conversion of Indira’s three children by her Muslim convert ex-husband, ruling that both parents’ consent was necessary to change the minors’ religion.
