The Star
Published: Saturday April 12, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Saturday April 12, 2014 MYT 10:21:48 AM
Updated: Saturday April 12, 2014 MYT 10:21:48 AM
BY SARBAN SINGH, SIRA HABIBU, TASHNY SUKUMARAN, FARIK ZOLKEPLI, M. KUMAR, LOH FOON FONG, AND LOSHANA K SHAGAR
Flashback: The Star report on April 24, 2009.
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PETALING JAYA: Two former law ministers have taken the police to task over their claim that they could not act on S. Deepa’s claim that her ex-husband had abducted her son.
Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, now the Tourism and Culture Minister, said the issue was a clear-cut case of kidnapping.
“This is abduction. It should never have happened. Let’s not lose sight of context,” he told The Star.
“This isn’t a question of Izwan Abdullah being right under Syariah law.
“It is a civil law marriage, it is the civil court, we must respect the civil court’s ruling. They have the jurisdiction.
“The High Court judge’s ruling was correct. The police shouldn’t allow him to get away with kidnapping the child,” he added.
Nazri was law minister in 2009 when the Cabinet decided that children be raised in the “common religion at the time of marriage” should one of their parents convert.
He had said then that a spouse who converted to Islam would also have to fulfil his or her marriage responsibilities and sort out issues according to civil marriage laws.
“Religion should not be used as a tool to escape marriage responsibilities,” he said.
Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said police should have never given the impression that they would not act because there were two different court orders.
“To say they respect both court orders and therefore will do nothing is irresponsible, and this leaves a negative perception of them.
“They should have contacted the Attorney-General or the Prime Minister before deciding on a course of action, or at least state that they would do so before considering action,” he added.
Meanwhile, Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said he would not comment until the police referred their investigations into the matter to his Chambers.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar had earlier reaffirmed that police would not take any action against Izwan despite the High Court order granting Deepa custody of their two children.
This was because Izwan Abdullah had obtained a custody order from the Syariah High Court last year.
“As there are two clashing court orders on the matter, we will wait for the courts to decide,” he said, confirming a statement by Jelebu OCPD a day earlier that the police could not act.
Khalid said the child was in no danger as he was with his father.
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