PERLIS Islamic authorities should reverse the conversion of Loh Siew Hong’s three children as it was made without their mother’s consent, lawyer Ramkarpal Singh said.

He said the religious authorities may have been under the wrong impression that this was a case in which the mother of the children could not be traced.

“But it is clear now that not only did she not consent to the said conversions, she has also obtained sole custody and guardianship of the children from the Kuala Lumpur High Court last year,” he said in a statement.

It was reported that Perlis mufti Asri Zainul Abidin had said the conversion was carried out according to the wishes of the children’s father, who is now in a Kelantan prison.

Asri had said the husband claimed he did not know the whereabouts of the children’s mother and that the religious authorities merely complied with their father’s wishes.

Ramkarpal said the confirmation by the Perlis mufti that the state’s religious department had registered Loh’s children as Muslims at the request of their father alone has cleared the confusion as to their religious status.

“The mufti further confirmed that the said conversions were not registered at the national registration department and as such, it is unclear if certificates of conversion were issued on their behalf.”

On February 12, Loh had filed a police report in Kepala Batas, Penang that Perlis religious authorities are keeping her three children without her permission.

She said in her report that she had received information that her twin daughters, 14, and son, 10, were in the care of religious authorities in Perlis.

Ramkarpal said that Loh has publicly said that she did not consent to the conversion of her children and the decision of the Federal Court on M. Indira Gandhi in 2018 clearly applies in this case.

In 2018, the Federal Court quashed the unilateral conversions of Indira’s three children.

The apex court upheld the nullification of the religious conversions by only one parent and affirmed custody to the mother.

Ramkarpal said that since the issue of unilateral conversions has been conclusively decided by the apex court in Indira’s case, the said state religious department should abide by its terms and cancel the registration of the said conversions without the need for the matter to be litigated.

It was reported that lawyer Shamsher Singh Thind, who is representing Loh, has sent a legal notice to the muallaf (converts) registrars of Penang, Kedah and Perlis.

Shamsher wants the authorities to provide evidence that Loh had consented to her children’s conversion. – February 17, 2022.