The Ipoh High Court has postponed to June 21 a decision on M Indira Gandhi's application for leave to quash the certificates of conversion of her children issued by the Muallaf Registrar of Perak.

indira gandhi children custody case 110310 ipoh high court On the same day, it will also hear the application whether to transfer the conversion case to the Federal Court as it touches on constitutional issues.

In his chambers, High Court judge Zainal Adzam Abdul Ghani explained to Indira's ( in yellow ) lawyer M Kulasegaran that the postponement was to accommodate the Federal Court's delay in coming to a decision on the S Shamala case.

On May 3 the Federal Court's panel of five judges hearing S Shamala's case had stated that since the conversion case is complex in nature, it needed another three weeks to come to a decision.

For Indira, this is the Ipoh High Court's third postponement in giving its decision. Originally to be made on April 2, Zainal postponed his decision till today, citing the complex nature of the case and pending the Federal Court decision on Shamala.

At the High Court today Kulasegaran also applied to have his client's case heard in the Federal Court, since it touches on Section 84 of the Court of Judicature Act 1964 and Articles 12 and 121(1A) of the Federal Constitution.

Article 121(1A) states that both the High Courts in Malaya and the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak have no jurisdiction in respect of any matter within the jurisdiction of the Syariah courts.

State assistant legal adviser Teoh Chin Chong objected to the application, citing Article 121(1A).

Civil court has jurisdiction

Kulasegaran rebutted that on March 11, another Ipoh High Court Judge Wan Afrah Wan Ibrahim, had ruled that a civil court has the jurisdiction to hear the conversion case, as a non-Muslim cannot attend a Syariah Court in a conversion dispute case.

Indira's three children were converted by her estranged husband, Mohd Riduan Abdullah (formerly known as K Pathmanathan), in April last year without her knowledge or consent.

She then filed a civil case against the state registrar of conversions, Perak religious department director, both state and federal governments, the Education Ministry and her husband.

The two elder children, a 13-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son are with the mother while the two-year-old daughter is in the father's custody

Earlier this March, another Ipoh High Court had granted Indira custody of her the three children while the father received once-weekly visitation rights.

Riduan had however refused to surrender the youngest daughter, prompting Indira to file an appeal with the Court of Appeal.

Indira's dilemma is similar to S Shamala's, where the husband had converted the children without the wife's knowledge.

The Federal Court hearing the Shamala case has to decide on five questions relating to the Constitutional rights of parties in such situations.