A mother who applied for leave to an Ipoh High Court to quash the certificates of conversion of her three children by the Muallaf Registrar of Perak will only know if she has succeeded or not after Monday when the Federal Court decides on S Shamala's conversion case.

High Court Judge Zainal Adzam Abdul Ghani had told M Indira's lawyer M Kula Segaran in his chambers, that since his client's case is similar to that of Shamala's, he will see the outcome of the Apex Court's decision before giving his on May 7.

This is the second time the Ipoh High Court had postponed its decision - the first was when it came up for hearing on April 2, Zainal citing the complex nature of the case, pushing delivering the decision to today.

The three children of Indira were converted by her estranged husband, Mohd Riduan Abdullah, without her knowledge in April last year.

She had filed the civil case against the state registrar of conversions, the Perak Religious department director, both state and federal governments, the Education Ministry and her husband K Patmanathan (now known as Riduan).

The two older children, a 13 year-old daughter and a 12 year-old son are with the mother while her last child, a two-year-old girl is the father's custody.

Once a week visiting rights

In March, Indira had obtained from another Ipoh High Court the custody order for the three children with Riduan being granted once a week visiting rights.

However, Riduan refused to surrender the toddler to the mother and filed an appeal in the Court of Appeal.

Indira's dilemma is similar to Shamala's with her husband Dr M Jeyaganesh had converted himself as well as his two under-aged sons to Islam eight years ago without his wife's knowledge.

The Federal Court comprising five judges will hear on Monday among others:

1. Whether a parent has the right to convert their children without the consent of his/her spouse, in a civil marriage;

2. Whether civil courts have the jurisdiction to hear conversion of non-Muslims children by one parent and;

3. Whether the Syariah Court has exclusive jurisdiction to determine the validity of converting minors, once registered by the Registrar of Muallaf (Registrar for newly converted Muslims).

The Federal Court ruling on Monday will have far reaching consequences for parents faced with conversions and will be a benchmark for other such cases in Malaysia.