Kajang Children's Court Judge Harmi Thamri had extended the period of custody of three children involved in a custody battle under the welfare department until its next hearing on Dec 21.

Previously, the Welfare Department had successfully appealed to the court for an extension until Nov 30.

On Sept 8 - a welfare centre from Cheras initiated proceedings under the Child Act 2001 claiming that the children were in need of protection.

The children, aged 15, 11 and 9, were required to stay in the welfare centre as it was deemed to be the safest place to stay following allegations that they were mistreated.

Meantime, the children's natural mother, an Indian, and their stepmother, a Malay, were allowed to visit their children at the centre. The children's father, a Chinese, died in March this year.

"But they have to obtain the consent of the centre before they can visit the children," K Shanmuga, defence counsel for the Indian mother, told malaysiakini outside the court room this morning.

Up to children

He said that he would have to do an in-depth study on the centre's reports in order to prepare his arguments at the next hearing.

Met by malaysiakini later, Junaidah Bakar, the lawyer representing the Selangor Religious Department reiterated that it was up to the children whether they wanted to be visited by both the natural mother or the stepmother.

Asked about her role as the lawyer of the stepmother, she explained that her presence in court was in accordance with the Selangor Religious Department's role to uphold and protect Muslim rights - in this case, that of the Malay mother and her stepchildren who had converted to Islam.

Meanwhile, the Malay stepmother appeared upset today saying that "what I want is to stay with my children and get them back under my care."

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Also present in court was lawyer Meera Samanther who was holding a watching brief for Women Aid Organisation (WAO), Women Development Collective (WDC) and Women Centre for Change (Penang).

She said her presence was because the case was of public interest and also to assure that the interests of the Indian mother and her children was protected.