The family of the late Rayappan Anthony today filed a RM10 million law suit against the Selangor Islamic Affairs Council (Mais) in relation to the tussle over his remains.

In their writ of summons, Rayappan's widow M Lourdse Mary, 69 and his four children - Lawrence, Mary, Pushpa Mary and Josephine - are seeking general damages over the trauma caused by Mais, whom they blamed for causing the nine-day delay to claim the body.

Their lawyer A Sivanesan said the family wanted to send a clear message to the authorities that such matters should not happen again.

"The trauma that the family went through should not be experienced by any other Malaysian. For nine days the body sat in the morgue and the lives of deceased's family was filled with uncertainty," said Sivanesan.

Rayappan, 71, died at Hospital Kuala Lumpur on Dec 29, but religious authorities had stopped his family from claiming the body the following day on the ground that he was a Muslim.

An ex-parte order to bury Rayappan as a Muslim was then obtained from the Shah Alam Syariah High Court on Dec 1 by Mais, who later applied for a review of the same order to subpoena three of Rayappan's daughters to testify in the Syariah Court.

When the three refused , Mais applied on Dec 7 to withdraw from the case citing lack of evidence that Rayappan was a Muslim. The withdrawal was finally allowed the next day.

Emotional, mental stress

According to court papers, the family claimed that Mais' action proved that it knew and should have known that the deceased was not a Muslim.

As a result of Mais' actions, the family claimed that they were only allowed to come in contact with Rayappan's remains on Dec 7, causing emotional and mental stress.

The family is also claiming special damages for the cost incurred when they had to cancel or delay funeral arrangements.

Sivanesan said he would be applying for an amendment to the writ to include another one of Rayappan's daughter as a plaintiff and raise the amount sought from Mais to RM12 million or RM2 million for each plaintiff.