CJ: Parents in custody battle can seek remedy in court

PUTRAJAYA: There is remedy available in court for parents embroiled in custody battle over their children in conversion cases, says Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria.

He said the procedures were available to the parties, but declined to disclose how that could be done, saying that by doing so, it would be deemed as if he was giving advice.

“They know their rights, they should pursue their rights. If somebody is not abiding (the court order), there are legal consequences that can follow. The party must take whatever action that is open to them, I cannot say, it’s not for the court to say,” said the top man in the judiciary.

Arifin was asked to comment on the spate of custody battles in conversion cases where the father did not abide by the Civil High Court ruling to return the child to the mother.

In the case of S Deepa in Seremban and that of M. Indira Gandhi in Ipoh, Perak, the Civil High Court granted custody of the children to the non- converting mothers, despite the father, who converted to Islam, had each taken one of the children.

On a ruling by the Ipoh High Court that the civil court is superior to the syariah court, Arifin declined to comment, saying that it was subject to appeal.

However, citing Article 121 (A) of the Federal Constitution, he said, it was clear that the civil courts did not have jurisdiction over syariah matters.

“Conflict of laws happen all over the world and not only in Malaysia. The only thing, in Malaysia, it happens within the same jurisdiction,” he told a press conference held at the Palace of Justice here.

In another development, Arifin said the judiciary had achieved almost 100 per cent disposal of backlog cases registered since or before 2009. The cases pending in the courts now were current cases, he said, adding that there were also no backlog cases at the Sessions and magistrate courts.

He said based on statistics, the civil High Court disposed off 99.2 per cent of the 44,873 backlog cases registered from 2009, leaving only 335 cases as of April this year.

The criminal High Court disposed 99.9 per cent of the 3,514 backlog cases from the same year, to only two cases this year, he added.

For the Civil Sessions Court, 99.9 per cent of backlog cases had been cleared, from 61,659 cases in 2009 to only six cases as April this year, and 99 per cent of backlog cases had been cleared at the criminal Sessions Court from 9,377 in 2009 to 103 this year.

At the civil and criminal magistrates court, Arifin said both the courts recorded a 100 per cent success in disposing of backlog cases, totalling 71,681 cases for the civil court and 53,087 cases for the criminal court.

He said it was intolerable for criminal cases to be pending in court for 14 years as criminal matters must proceed until the end with the accused person being convicted or acquitted. — Bernama