SINGLE mother Loh Siew Hong is to be reunited with her three children, after the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that the previous court order granting her sole custody still stands.

Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah delivered the decision today. He also quashed the illegal custody of the three children, who were held by the Welfare Department and one individual named Nazirah Nanthakumari. 

“The three children are to be released forthwith to the sole custody, care and control of the applicant (Loh),” Sequerah said.

Loh broke down once the decision was delivered. 

Loh has been separated from her children – twin 14-year-old girls and a 10-year-old boy – since 2019 while she was in hospital due to injuries she claimed she sustained from physical abuse by her ex-husband Naghaswaran Muniandy.

It was sometime in July 2020, Nagahswaran had the children converted, and Loh was unable to find them, with Covid-19 lockdowns also hampering her efforts.

Nagahswaran is currently in prison in Kelantan for a drug-related offence.

She was granted full custody of the children last March, and finally located them early last month at a Perlis welfare home only to discover they had been converted to Islam.

She had also filed police reports after not being able to find them.

Despite the court’s custody order, neither the police nor the welfare authorities is handing the children over to her.

Loh filed her application through a notice of motion in the High Court on February 13, naming Hidayah Centre Foundation senior preacher Nazirah and parties holding her children as second respondents.  

Loh was represented by A. Srimurugan and Shamsher Singh Thind. 

Srimurugan told the court today that Loh was issued an interim ex-parte dated December 20, 2019, granting sole custody, care and control of the three children. 

Taking this into consideration, Sequerah said the orders issued in the court previously were still valid and it should not be disregarded. 

“Pursuant to an order from the High Court dated March 31 last year, the applicant was granted sole custody, care and control of the three children.  

“There was also an earlier interim ex-parte order dated December 20, 2019, granting sole custody, care and control of the three children to the applicant.  

“The court order is still valid and still stands. Court orders are not to be treated with impunity upon the pain of contempt of court,” Sequerah said.  

In submissions earlier, Srimurugan told the court that Loh’s case was a sad one as she was separated from her children. 

Pointing to the witness room, where Loh’s children were kept, Srimurugan said the single mother could not even get near them. 

“This is a mother in distress. At this moment, she cannot go 1cm near her children. It is pure inhuman treatment,” he said. 

Lawyer Aidil Khalid, appearing for Nazirah, argued that Loh’s habeas corpus application – naming the preacher as the co-respondent – was academic as the children were no longer with her.

He said the children were now under the care of the welfare department, which Low had consented.

“In her affidavit, she stated how she came to know the (whereabouts of the) children. She does not have custody and control of them as she only met the children during school holidays.

“When the father went missing, she (Nazirah) took the responsibility of taking care of them. They can’t say she held the children illegally,” Aidil said. 

Both Srimurugan and Aidil agreed the case has nothing to do with religion. – February 21, 2022.