Couple in custody battle told to bring children on D-day

PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court here yesterday directed the parents embroiled in a custody battle, to bring their two children to court on the day the court delivers its decision concerning the children’s custody.

The couple’s 10-year-old daughter is with the mother S.Deepa, a Hindu, while their seven-year-old son is living with the father, Izwan Abdullah, who had converted to Islam.

“We want the two children to be present when we deliver the decision,” said Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif who chaired a five-member panel.

“Tell them (the parents) to bring the children,” he said after Izwan’s counsel Mohamed Haniff Katri Abdulla informed the panel of his (Izwan’s) presence in court.

Both Deepa, 32, and Izwan, 31, formerly a Hindu by the name of N.Viran, were present in court today but the children were absent.

Justice Raus, who was presiding on the panel with Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin and Federal Court judges Tan Sri Abdull Hamid Embong, Tan Sri Suriyadi Halim Omar and Datuk Azahar Mohamed, had deferred their decision to a date to be fixed later in Izwan’s appeals after hearing arguments from the parties in the matter.

Izwan is appealing against the decision of the High Court to grant custody of the couple’s two children whom he had converted to Islam, to their mother.

Izwan, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and AttorneyGeneral (AG) are also appealing against a recovery order issued by the High Court directing the police to locate him (Izwan) and return the son to the mother.

The Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s decision on the custody order and recovery order.

On Jan 14, this year, the Federal Court granted Izwan a stay against an order that he return his son to Deepa, pending disposal of his appeals.

The High Court had on May 21, last year ordered that the son be returned to Deepa, and gave authority to the police to assist her in getting the son back.

Izwan was reported to have taken away his son on April 9, last year, after the High Court granted the custody to Deepa. The couple was married in March 2003 under Hindu rites.

In 2012, Izwan converted to Islam and converted the children without his wife’s knowledge the same year. He then obtained an order from the Seremban Syariah Court for custody of the children.

Earlier, during the court proceeding, Mohamed Haniff argued that the Civil High Court did not have the jurisdiction to grant custody of the children to Deepa because she did not challenge the children’s conversion.

He said since the children were already converted to Islam, the Syariah Court was the right court to decide on the custody, adding that a non-Muslim spouse could appear before the Syariah Court.

Mohamed Haniff said a father who converted to Islam could unilaterally convert his child without the consent of the mother.

He said the Guardianship of Infants Act 1961 could not be applied on the children because they were already converted to Islam before the filing of the divorce petition.

Lawyer Fahri Azzat, representing Deepa, argued that since the children were born in a civil marriage under the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976, the Civil High Court was the proper court to resolve the children’s custody.

“When one party is converted, a civil court still has the jurisdiction,” he said, adding that if Deepa attended the Syariah Court, the law did not provide jurisdiction for the Syariah Court to make an order on her rights, over the custody issue.

Senior federal counsel Suzana Atan who appeared for the IGP and AG, said a non-Muslim could not be a party in the Syariah Court but could appear as a witness.

On the recovery order, she said there were two valid orders from the Syariah Court and High Court, thus the IGP could not enforce the order. - Bernama