Lawyers: IGP should obey civil High Court order

[vc_row][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]12 June 2014, Malaysiakini Inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar should enforce the civil High Court order on custody of children in religious dispute cases, and not be interpreting the court order on its own. Senior lawyer CV Prabhakaran said in fact, the police should be arresting the convert father for failure to comply with and respecting the civil court order.

 

Another lawyer, Benjamin Dawson, agrees that civil High Court order should take precedence as the Syariah High Court order is not binding on non-Muslims. Benjamin said one has to ask the right questions – are the Syariah Courts’ decision binding on non-Muslims? “The attorney-general should be advising the IGP on this. The AG should know that the Syariah Court order (in granting custody to the converted parent) is non-binding on a non-Muslim as in the S Deepa and Indira Gandhi cases as they chose to remain Hindus.”

 

“Hence, the Syariah High Court order when declaring custody to the converted spouse is not enforceable and that only the civil court order should take precedence in enforcement and stand. With this the IGP should follow the civil High Court order.” Benjamin said in fact, the Ipoh High Court order in the Indira Gandhi case went on further to declare the Syariah High Court order as null and void due to it being not binding on the Hindu mother.

 

Read more: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/265492

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