Actress Puteri Sarah files for full custody of two children

KUALA LUMPUR: Actress Puteri Sarah Liyana Megat Kamaruddin today filed a full custody (hadanah) claim for her two children, aged six and four, at the Syariah High Court here.

Counsel Puteri Ummi Kartini Abd Latiff representing Puteri Sarah said her client filed the custody claim in accordance with Section 81 of the Islamic Family Law (Federal Territories) Act1984.

"This is not something strange, because according to Section 81, the parties who are in the process of getting a divorce, may file a claim before or after the divorce...it is the right of both parties either the mother or father.

"However, the law is clear that the mother is the best person to take care of the children, so that's what Sarah is doing today," she told reporters after filing the claim at the Syariah High Court Registration Counter here.

Puteri Ummi Kartini said that a copy of the custody claim document has not been handed over to the defendant, Puteri Sarah's husband, film director Mohd Shamsul Md Yusof.

"When we get the chance to meet the defendant's counsel we will hand it over to him," she said adding that the date for remention of the case is still not known.

In the meantime, on the nusyuz application filed against Puteri Sarah by her husband, Puteri Ummi Kartini said she has yet to receive the summons and claim.

"It is alright for him (Mohd Shamsul) to file the (nusyuz) application. We will give our reply after looking into his demands but so far, on our side we haven't received anything " said the syarie lawyer.

Yesterday, Syamsul filed a nusyuz application at the Gombak Timur Syariah Lower Court, here, claiming that Puteri Sarah had often contacted her ex-boyfriend who is a married man, thus disrupting his marriage.

Last Jan 16, Puteri Sarah filed for an amicable divorce from her husband with the permission of the court under Section 47 of the Islamic Family Law (Federal Territories) Act 1984, on the grounds that there was no more understanding and with prolonged shiqaq (disagreement) between them, they could no longer live together as husband and wife according to the Syariah law.

-- BERNAMA