PUTRAJAYA: A 37-year-old woman has filed a review application to the Federal Court in an attempt to overturn a previous ruling that affirmed her religious status as a Muslim.
Her lawyer A.Surendra Ananth, when contacted by Bernama, confirmed that the application, under Rule 137 of the Rules of the Federal Court 1995, was filed on Aug 16.
In her notice of motion, the woman is requesting the Federal Court to set aside its previous 2-1 majority decision made on May 3, this year, which dismissed her appeal.
She is asking for a new panel of judges at the Federal Court to rehear her appeal.
In her application, the woman said the Federal Court’s majority decision was per incuriam (the court judgment disregarded relevant statutory provisions or binding court decision).
The woman further contended that the majority decision was made beyond the court’s jurisdiction and violated the rules of natural justice. She also said the majority decision has caused a serious miscarriage of justice.
A case management for the review application has been fixed on Sept 18.
On May 3 this year, the Federal Court, in a 2-1 decision, upheld the appellate court’s ruling, which had reinstated her as a Muslim.
The woman, who was born in Selangor to a Hindu father and a Buddhist mother, claimed that she was converted to Islam by her mother in 1991 at the age of four, without her father’s consent.
She said her mother married a Muslim man after divorcing her father. Despite her conversion, she said both her mother and her stepfather allowed her to continue practising Hinduism, the faith she was born into.
On Dec 12, 2013, the woman filed a summons at the Kuala Lumpur Syariah High Court for a declaration that she was no longer a Muslim. However, the Shariah High Court dismissed her summons on July 20, 2017, and the Shariah Court of Appeal dismissed her appeal on Aug 1, 2017.
Subsequently, she initiated a lawsuit at the civil High Court, seeking a declaration that she was not a Muslim.
The woman won her suit at the High Court Shah Alam on Dec 21, 2021, which declared that she was not a Muslim.
However, that decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal on Jan 13, last year. In a 2-1 majority decision, the Court of Appeal reinstated her status as a Muslim following the appeals from the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MAIS) and the Selangor state government.
