Ex-husband in conversion case fined for contempt of court

KUALA LUMPUR: A father who has been accused of abducting his three children and registering them as Muslim converts without his ex-wife's consent was fined RM20,000 by the High Court here today for contempt of court.

Judge Evrol Mariette Peters imposed the sentence on Muhammad Nagahswaran Muniandy, who is the former husband of Loh Siew Hong, and ordered him to pay the fine, in default of 14-day jail, within 14 days, starting today.

The judge said Muhammad Nagahswaran had interfered with the administration of justice.

She made the ruling after allowing Loh's application to initiate committal proceedings against Muhammad Nagahswaran.

In the application, Loh claimed that there was a court order that granted her sole custody over her three children - a pair of 15-year-old twin girls and an 11-year-old boy on March 31, 2021, which was violated by her ex-husband.

Peters, in her judgment, said the respondent (Muhammad Nagahswaran) was well aware of what he had done and that he had failed to comply with the court order that the petitioner (Loh) was awarded sole guardianship custody of care and control of the children.

"And from the affidavits, the respondent had even involved family members in preventing the children from being returned to the petitioner," she said.

The judge said in the present case, the respondent's conduct in not complying with the court order had triggered a chain of events, which not only gave the petitioner a runaround, going through the courts and filing numerous applications, just to reunite with the children.

"It had also deprived the children of their mother after being passed around from one person to another. The petitioner was left in limbo," Peters said.

The judge also pointed out that the court must fulfil its responsibilities by passing an appropriate sentence to reflect the extreme seriousness of the case, in particular, the respondent's interference with the administration of justice.

The court ordered the respondent to pay RM6,000 in costs.

Loh and her ex-husband, both aged 36, were seen seated far from each other in the public gallery during the open court proceedings.

The single mother was represented by counsel J. Gunamalar, while M. Vhimall acted for Muhammad Nagahswaran.

Meanwhile, lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla representing the Perlis Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (MAIPs) told the court that they had submitted an application for the judge to recuse herself from hearing MAIPs' application to amend the custody order awarded to Loh.

The application was filed after the Court of Appeal allowed MAIPs' appeal to intervene in the custody order granted to Loh.

On June 15 last year, Peters dismissed MAIPs' application to intervene after finding that MAIPs had failed to show that it was an interested party in relation to the children.

On Feb 21 the same year, the three siblings, who were placed under the care of the Social Welfare Department, were released to Loh after the High Court allowed her habeas corpus application.

Loh has also filed a judicial review application to challenge her children's conversion to Islam which she claimed was done by her ex-husband without her consent. The High Court has set to deliver its decision on May 11.

-- BERNAMA