00:00The High Court has overturned the conversions of two minors to Islam,
00:04ruling their late mother acted without their father's consent while they were still married.
00:09The sisters, aged 9 and 7 in 2018, were converted in Pahang and Selangor
00:15while their parents were estranged and their father was working overseas.
00:18The father only discovered the girls' conversions after their mother died in 2023.
00:23He brought legal proceedings to nullify the conversions,
00:26naming both the Pahang and Selangor governments and their religious departments as respondents.
00:32Justice S. Narkunavati allowed the application,
00:36citing the federal court's 2018 landmark decision in the Indira Gandhi case as binding precedent.
00:42The judge said Article 12 sub 4 of the federal constitution
00:46must be interpreted in a way that safeguards both parents' rights.
00:50She also said the mother had disregarded the father's rights as their joint guardian
00:55when converting their two daughters to Islam.
00:58Narkunavati also rejected the Selangor government's reliance
01:01on the Bahasa Melayu version of the federal constitution.
01:05She said the Malay version had not gone through the mandatory constitutional process
01:09to be gazetted as the authoritative text.
01:13Both the Pahang and Selangor governments have filed appeals against the decision.
01:17From Mandawi Gapari, FMT
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