Civil court proper forum to decide divorce, custody in civil marriages, rules Federal Court

The Federal Court today ruled that the Civil Court is the proper forum to decide on dissolution of marriages and custody of children in cases where one spouse has converted to Islam and the other remains a non-Muslim.

A five-man bench chaired by Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif delivered the ruling in the case involving a Hindu clerk, S. Deepa, and her former husband, lorry driver Izwan Abdullah, who had embraced Islam and subsequently converted their two children to Islam allegedly without Deepa's approval.

The court granted custody of the eight-year-old son Nabil to the father and the 10-year-old daughter Nur Nabila to the mother.

Justice Raus said the court had interviewed the children and Nabil had stated he wanted to be with his father and Nur Nabila said she wished to be with her mother.

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He said the children appeared to be settled where they were with their parents.

Nur Nabila is staying with her mother in Johor Baharu while Nabil is living in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan, with Izwan whose Hindu name was N. Viran.

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In delivering the court's unanimous decision, Justice Raus said the Civil Court was the right court to decide on the couple's dissolution of marriage and custody of their children because their marriage was solemnised under Hindu rites and was governed under the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act.

It was an abuse of process for a converted spouse to file dissolution of marriage and custody of children in the Syariah Court, he said, adding that non-Muslim marriages did not dissolve when one spouse converted to Islam.

Justice Raus said the Syariah Court only had jurisdiction to decide on dissolution of marriages and custody of children with regard to marriages solemnised according to Syariah law.