The government and the prime minister are abdicating their responsibilities to find a harmonious, long-term settlement to inter-faith custody disputes in the country, says a lawyer for one of those involved in one such dispute.

Lawyer M Kulasegaran said the moves by the Attorney-General's Chambers and Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar to intervene now, after the custody case of M Indira Gandhi has been dragging on since 2009, was just a bid  to defuse the real issues.

“The real issue is the need for a permanent settlement to interfaith custody disputes,” Kulasegaran ( left ) said in a statement today.

He said Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had made promises in 2009 that the government would make the necessary changes to the law for tabling in Parliament to address the shortcomings in inter-faith conversion matters.

“So many years have passed after the promise was made and nothing has happened. This shows that the government lacks the political will and the grit to bring the necessary law changes to settle the thorny issues of interfaith matters,” Kulasegaran said.

Indira is involved in a custody and interfaith dispute after her former husband K Pathmanathan @ Mohd Ridhuan Abdullah ( left ) converted to Islam and took away the youngest of their three children.

The High Court in Ipoh has granted custody of the couple's three children to the mother, while the Syariah High Court there granted custody to the father.

'Court forced to enter where laws are not clear'

As a result of the applications by the AGC and police, Kulasegaran said, the court is now forced to adjudicate sensitive, intricate inter-faith issues where the laws are also not clear.

“Clearly, the government is abdicating in its responsibility to find a long-term and harmonious settlement,” Kulasegaran, who is also the DAP parliamentarian representing Ipoh Barat, added.

With the police declining to enforce the civil High Court order to arrest Ridhuan for not returning the youngest child, Prasana Diksa, to Indira ( on the right ), he said, a proceeding to cite the IGP for contempt has been filed and the matter has been fixed for July 21, before the High Court in Ipoh.

Besides this, the applications of the attorney-general and IGP to intervene in the matter have also been fixed for hearing in the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya on July 24.

The grounds of the applications of the AG and IGP are:

  • The appeal involves questions of public interest as to which court (either the civil or syariah) shall have the jurisdiction over a minor when one spouse converts to Islam;

 

  • The appeal involves religious sensitivity and is  potential to disrupt the public safety;

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  • The orders of the High Court and Syariah High Court have given rise to constitutional crisis over Article 121(1A ) of the Federal Constitution;

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  • It also involves the question of whether the civil court has the right of judicial review against the finding or decision made by a syariah court; and

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  • Further, it also involves the interpretation of Sections 52 and 53 of the Child Act.
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