Friday, January 13, 2023

Selangor govt, Islamic council win Court of Appeal bid to restore woman as Muslim




Selangor govt, Islamic council win Court of Appeal bid to restore woman as Muslim




The two judges who allowed the bid by the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) and the Selangor state government to restore the woman’s religious identity as a Muslim was Datuk Yaacob Md Sam, who chaired the three-judge panel, and Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali. ― Reuters pic

Friday, 13 Jan 2023 10:46 AM MYT


KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 — In a two-one majority ruling today, the Court of Appeal reversed a High Court's previous declaration that a 37-year-old Selangor-born woman is “not a person professing the religion of Islam”.

The two judges who allowed the bid by the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) and the Selangor state government to restore the woman’s religious identity as a Muslim was Datuk Yaacob Md Sam, who chaired the three-judge panel, and Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.


The sole dissenting judge was Datuk Ravinthran Paramaguru who said the High Court was correct to declare the woman as not a person professing the religion of Islam”.

The woman, identified only as D to protect her privacy, was born to an ethnic Indian father who was Hindu and an ethnic Chinese mother who was originally Buddhist but later converted to Islam.


Her parents had a civil marriage.


On May 10, 2021, D filed an originating summons in the civil High Court in Shah Alam, naming Mais and the Selangor state government as the two respondents.

In her lawsuit, D sought a court declaration that she is “not a person professing the religion of Islam”.

Among the reasons she gave was that her father’s consent was never obtained for her conversion to Islam as a child and that she had never uttered the kalimah syahadah.

The other reasons she listed were that the consent of both her father and mother were required for any conversion to take place, and her assertion that she was born a Hindu and had only professed and practised the Hindu religion at all times.

On December 21, 2021, the High Court granted D’s application for a declaration that she is “not a person professing the religion of Islam”, and dismissed Mais’ counterclaim to declare D a vexatious litigant.

The High Court had also found her unilateral conversion to Islam at the age of four by her Muslim convert mother to be invalid from the start.

On January 17 last year Mais filed an appeal against the High Court’s decision which declared D to be not a person professing the religion of Islam.

The Selangor state government also filed an appeal on January 19, 2022.

Both these appeals were heard in September last year and decided today.

MORE TO COME

2 comments:

  1. As I said even if a monkey accidentally recites the sahadah, these religious bigots will ensure it (monkey) cannot renounce islam.

    "There is no compulsion in (entering) islam"

    Just that you cannot leave the religion should you change your mind.

    ReplyDelete