Lawyers for Liberty dismayed by Federal Court's 'King Solomon' brand of justice

PETALING JAYA: Lawyers for Liberty has expressed disappointment over the Federal Court's decision to grant custody of S. Deepa's youngest child to her Muslim ex-husband, Izwan Abdullah, despite him abducting the boy in 2014 after the Seremban High Court awarded custody of both children to Deepa.
"The Federal Court seems to be rewarding a wrongdoer who had blatantly disregarded the High Court order, thus giving the impression that a wrongdoer can abuse the legal process and benefit from it," its legal coordinator Melissa Sasidaran said in a statement today.
Calling the ruling a "King Solomon-like justice" for ordering the children to be split between two disputing parties, the organisation said the Federal Court should have taken the IGP to task for failing to enforce the High Court order and recover custody of the child.
Melissa added that this judgement does not resolve similar cases where a spouse can still unilaterally convert to Islam, obtain custody from the Syariah court, abduct the child and still be awarded custody by the highest court in the country.
The organisation called on the government to amend the laws to come up with a permanent solution to put an end to family disputes of this manner.
However, the organisation welcomed the Federal Court ruling that the civil court has exclusive jurisdiction in cases of divorce and custody of children where one spouse has converted to Islam.
This ruling was also supported by Gerakan human rights bureau chief, Datuk Baljit Singh.
Baljit commended the panel of judges for meeting the two children before delivering a decision as their interests should be prioritised.
"A non-Muslim spouse must not abuse his conversion to Islam to escape his obligations," he said in a statement, emphasizing that children should not be made victims of irresponsible actions in marital disputes.