The High Court in Kuala Lumpur today quashed the unilateral conversion of a 10-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy to Islam by their mother two years ago.

In her decision, Justice Azizah Nawawi said the court was bound by a Federal Court decision on this matter.

"The court hence grants an order of certiorari to quash the decision to register the children.

"The court also grants an order of mandamus for the names of the children be removed from the Registrar (of Muallafs)," she added.

Justice Azizah also ruled that the issue of whether the children were unilaterally converted by the mother was not in dispute.

She further refused to grant a stay of her decision as requested by the counsel for the Registrar of Muallafs (Muslim converts), Sulaiman Abdullah, who argued that the order would affect the registrar.

Last month, the Court of Appeal had granted custody of the children to the Buddhist father. 

The children who lived in Selangor were converted to Islam in the Federal Territory by the mother in 2016.

Although Justice Azizah did not mention the particular Federal Court ruling which was binding on this case, it is believed that she was referring to the M Indira Gandhi decision where the conversion of children from a civil marriage must get the approval from both the parents. 

Registrar of Muallafs will appeal

The 46-year-old father named the Federal Territory Islamic Department (Jawi), Registrar of Muallafs, the director general of the Education Ministry, the Federal Government and the 42-year-old mother as respondents.

Senior federal counsel Mazlifah Ayob appeared for Jawi, Education Ministry and government, while K Shanmuga and Honey Tan represented the father who is a businessperson.

Lawyer Rohani Ibrahim appeared for the mother.

Meanwhile, lawyer Zulkifli Che Yong, who appeared with Sulaiman, said they will appeal against today's decision at the Court of Appeal.

Rohani said her firm had last Thursday, filed a motion for leave to appeal to the Federal Court, over the Court of Appeal decision that granted custody to the father.

Initially, the Shah Alam High Court granted custody of the children to the mother before last week's Court of Appeal decision.

The names of the parents and the children are being withheld by the court.

The father was granted leave to challenge the conversion in 2016 in a judicial review application he filed in June the same year, after the children were converted.

Their mother converted to Islam in December 2015.

Earlier this year, the apex court ruled in the Indira Gandhi case that the definition of "parent" should be in plural and permission of both parents is needed in changing the faith of the child.