High Court strikes out woman's bid to declare herself as non-Muslim

SEREMBAN - The High Court here today allowed the Negeri Sembilan Islamic Religious Council’s (Mains) application to strike out the originating summons (OS) filed by a woman seeking to declare herself as a non-Muslim.

Judicial Commissioner Mohamad Haldar Abdul Aziz made the decision after reviewing the affidavits and written submissions submitted by Mains and the 46-year-old businesswoman as the plaintiff.

In today's proceedings, Mains was represented by Datuk Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar, Danial Farhan Zainul Rijal, and Muhammad Hariz Md Yusoff, while the Malaysian government and the National Registration Department (NRD) were represented by Senior Federal Counsel Amalina Zainal Mokhtar, with the applicant represented by lawyer S. Karthigesan.

The plaintiff filed an originating summons against the Malaysian government, Mains, and NRD as the first to third respondents on March 23 last year.

Through the originating summons, the woman sought for the NRD to amend and update her personal information records to indicate her non-Muslim religion in the registration system.

The applicant also requested an immediate change of her Malay name to an Indian female name.

Speaking to reporters, Karthigesan said his client was converted from Hinduism to Islam by her father when she was just four years old.

Meanwhile, Zainul Rijal said that MAINS filed the application to strike out the case on June 28 last year, arguing that the applicant is a Muslim, adding that if the applicant wishes to change her religion, the application must be made in the Syariah Court, not the Civil Court.

He said the woman was previously married to a Muslim man and they divorced in the Selangor Syariah Court. - BERNAMA