12-29-2007, 10:42 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Hindu woman's divorce hopes dashed
28 Dec 2007, 0624 hrs IST,PTI
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysiaâs highest court on Thursday rejected an appeal by an ethnic Indian Hindu woman to stop her Muslim convert husband from seeking a divorce in the Islamic Shariah court, while upholding the manâs right to change the religion of their youngest son.
The federal court rejected 29-year-old R Subashiniâs petition on technical grounds, saying she had filed her plea within three months of the conversion of her husband, Saravanan Thangathoray alias Muhammad Shafi Abdullah, 32.
Her lawyers said she would again file the petition in the high court to meet the legal requirement that it should be filed three months after the conversion. Subashini is not opposed to divorcing her husband but she wants the procedure to take place in a civil court.
The federal court on Thursday said her Muslim convert husband had a right to approach the Shariah courts. It also upheld his right to convert the coupleâs youngest of the two sons to Islam. Saravanan claims that the elder child had already converted to Islam with him.
The judgment further said that both civil courts and Shariah courts have equal status in Malaysia. A clear picture of Thursdayâs ruling would emerge after a full reading of the verdict, lawyers said.
Nik Hashim Nik Abdul Rahman, the presiding judge of the three-member panel, noted that "civil courts continue to have jurisdiction, notwithstanding his (the husbandâs) conversion to Islam ... A non-Muslim marriage continues to exist until the high court dissolves it."
Subashini, a former secretary, had appealed the court of appealâs 2-1 majority decision on a March 13 ruling that her husband could go to the Shariah Court and commence proceedings to dissolve their marriage. The appellate court held that the civil court cannot stop a Muslim convert from going to the Shariah court to dissolve his marriage with his non-Muslim spouse or from initiating proceedings relating to custody of their children.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indians...how/2656998.cms<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
28 Dec 2007, 0624 hrs IST,PTI
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysiaâs highest court on Thursday rejected an appeal by an ethnic Indian Hindu woman to stop her Muslim convert husband from seeking a divorce in the Islamic Shariah court, while upholding the manâs right to change the religion of their youngest son.
The federal court rejected 29-year-old R Subashiniâs petition on technical grounds, saying she had filed her plea within three months of the conversion of her husband, Saravanan Thangathoray alias Muhammad Shafi Abdullah, 32.
Her lawyers said she would again file the petition in the high court to meet the legal requirement that it should be filed three months after the conversion. Subashini is not opposed to divorcing her husband but she wants the procedure to take place in a civil court.
The federal court on Thursday said her Muslim convert husband had a right to approach the Shariah courts. It also upheld his right to convert the coupleâs youngest of the two sons to Islam. Saravanan claims that the elder child had already converted to Islam with him.
The judgment further said that both civil courts and Shariah courts have equal status in Malaysia. A clear picture of Thursdayâs ruling would emerge after a full reading of the verdict, lawyers said.
Nik Hashim Nik Abdul Rahman, the presiding judge of the three-member panel, noted that "civil courts continue to have jurisdiction, notwithstanding his (the husbandâs) conversion to Islam ... A non-Muslim marriage continues to exist until the high court dissolves it."
Subashini, a former secretary, had appealed the court of appealâs 2-1 majority decision on a March 13 ruling that her husband could go to the Shariah Court and commence proceedings to dissolve their marriage. The appellate court held that the civil court cannot stop a Muslim convert from going to the Shariah court to dissolve his marriage with his non-Muslim spouse or from initiating proceedings relating to custody of their children.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indians...how/2656998.cms<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->