A women's group and a political party today expressed concern over the Kuala Lumpur High Court's decision pertaining to a custody case between a Hindu mother and her estranged husband, who has converted to Islam.

"While the decision seems to have reached a compromise, it upholds the independent decision of the father to convert the children to Islam," said Women's Aid Organisation (WAO) executive director Ivy Josiah in a statement.

"The judgement disregards the everyday, practical reality of a family life whereby the joint legal custody concerning education, choice of religion and property is not completely available to her because she has been given conditions on how to be a mother in the area of religious and cultural values," she added.

WAO together with Sisters in Islam, the All Women's Action Movement and the Women's Crisis Centre (Penang) held a watching brief on the case.

Yesterday, Justice Faiza Thamby Chik granted S Shamala the day to day care of her two sons but prohibited her from imparting her religious beliefs on them.

Her husband Dr Muhammad Ridzwan Mogarajah, formerly known as M Jeyaganesh, was also awarded joint custody.

Not binding

"The actual custody, which means the day to day care, control and daily responsibility of looking after the boys would be given to the mother.

"However, I put a caveat that the mother would lose the right to actual custody if there are reasonable grounds to believe that she would influence the children's present religious beliefs or make them eat pork," the judge ruled.

He said the ruling was in accordance with section 5 of the Guardianship and Infant Act 1961 and stipulated that both parents will have to discuss and agree on issues concerning the children's religion and education.

Shamala had claimed that her husband had converted her sons, Theiviswaran, 3 and Saktiswaran, 5, to Islam without her knowledge and consent.

She had also contended that as their natural mother she had the right under the Federal Constitution and the Guardianship Act to determine the religion of the minors.

Ruling on a summons filed by Shamala on April 13, Faiza said the the Syariah court had no jurisdiction over the mother and that the father's act of converting the sons was done in a "shroud of secrecy."

"Although the father is a mualaf Muslim, he cannot literally convert the children without the consent of the mother," he added.

He said although the conversion was endorsed by the Syariah Court it was not binding on the mother.

However, Josiah said the High Court's decision severely limits the full range of Shamala's custodial rights as she now must comply with the father's decision to convert the children and her right to share her beliefs and tradition with her children is denied.

"The judge's decision reinforces the husband's arbitrary decision and derogates her rights as a mother to play an interactive role in her children's spiritual lives," she added.

Unjust caveat

Meanwhile, Gerakan's Wanita chief Rhina Bhar also questioned the caveat imposed on the mother.

"If the conversion of the children is illegal, since the mother's consent was not obtained, how can there be a caveat to condone an illegal act?" she asked in a statement.

She recommended that unless both parents consent to the conversion, the children must remain in the religion they were born into up to the age of 18.

"It is unjust to impose the caveat on her as the children are very young and if the mother is a religious person, it would definitely influence them and consequently she will lose custody." she added.

On Monday, the Bar Council raised Shamala's plight when they called on the government and judiciary to be pro-active in protecting the custody rights of non-Muslim parents.

The High Court has fixed Sept 9 to hear a committal proceeding against Shamala as her husband had alleged that she fled the country with their children.