In matters of religious conversion of minors from civil marriages, both parents must consent, ensuring adherence to constitutional and legal norms.

[1] The often misunderstood concept of Islamisation surrounding the issue of religious conversion of young children into the Islamic faith makes articulation of this issue important.

Background Of The Appeals

[2] There are three appeals before this court. They are:

i. Civil Appeal No: 01(f)-17-06-2016 (A) (Appeal No 17)

ii. Civil Appeal No: 01(f)-18-06-2016 (A) (Appeal No 18)

iii. Civil Appeal No: 01(f)-19-06-2016 (A) (Appeal No 19)

[3] The appellant in the appeals, Indira Gandhi a/p Mutho is appealing against the decision of the court of Appeal dated 30 November 2015 allowing the appeals filed by the respondents in Appeals No 17, 18 and 19, respectively.

[4] The court of Appeal set aside the decision of the High court in allowing the appellant's application for judicial review for an order of certiorari to quash the certificates of conversion to Islam of the children in her marriage with Patmanathan a/l Krishnan, the respondent in Appeal No 19.

[5] In her application for judicial review, the respondent husband was cited as the 6th respondent while the respondents in Appeal No 17 (Director of the Islamic Religious Affairs Department of Perak, the Registrar of Muallafs and the Perak Government) and the respondents in Appeal No 18 (the Ministry of Education and the Government of Malaysia) were respectively cited as the 1st to the 5th respondents.

[6] The Federal court had granted leave for the following questions of law:

1. Whether the High court has the exclusive jurisdiction pursuant to ss 23, 24 and 25 and the Schedule of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 (read together with O 53 of the Rules of 2012) and/ or its inherent jurisdiction to review the actions of the Registrar of Muallafs or his delegate acting as public authorities in exercising statutory powers vested by the Administration of the Religion of Islam (Perak) Enactment 2004.

2. Whether a child of a marriage under the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 ("a civil marriage") who has not attained the age of 18 years must comply with both ss 96(1) and 106(b) of the Administration of the Religion of Islam (Perak) Enactment 2004 (or similar provisions in State laws throughout the country) before the Registrar of Muallafs or his delegate may register the conversion to Islam of that child.

3. Whether the mother and the father (if both are still surviving) of a child of a civil marriage must consent before a certificate of conversion to Islam can be issued in respect of that child.

Facts

[7] Patmanathan ('the 6th respondent') and Indira Gandhi ('the appellant') were married on 10 April 1993. The marriage was registered under the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 ('the LRA'). There were three children of the marriage, Tevi Darsiny, aged 12, Karan Dinish, aged 11 and the youngest, Prasana Diksa, who was 11 months old (at the time of filing of the appellant's application for judicial review).

[8] On 11 March 2009, the 6th respondent converted to Islam. At the time of the 6th respondent's conversion, the two elder children were residing with the appellant while the youngest child was with the 6th respondent. On 8 April 2009, the 6th respondent obtained an ex parte interim custody order for all the three children from the Syariah court. He later obtained a permanent custody order on 29 September 2009.

[9] Sometime in April 2009, the appellant received documents from the 6th respondent s