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KUALA LUMPUR: A Hindu widow who is challenging the conversion of her husband to Islam has written to the Court of Appeal asking that a nine-man bench hear her case.
S. Kaliammal said her matter before the appellate court was of public interest as it touched on the constitutional rights of non-Muslims.
In a letter sent by her lawyer M. Manoharan to Court of Appeal Registrar, Hasnah Mohd Hashim, the widow also wanted the appeal date to be brought forward.
The case is scheduled to be heard on Dec 12.
On May 24, parties which met for the case management before Hasnah consented to a year-end hearing as they were waiting for the Federal Court to deliver the Lina Joy judgment.
The apex court delivered its much-awaited ruling on May 30.
Kaliammal’s case received wide media coverage as it involved the religious status of her husband, M. Moorthy, who was a member of the first Malaysian team to scale Mount Everest in 1997.
He is said to have converted to Islam prior to his death on Dec 20, 2005, without informing his family. She sought legal redress at the High Court.
On Dec 29, 2005, the then High Court judge Mohd Raus Sharif ruled that Article 121(1A) of the Federal Constitution stated that the civil court had no jurisdiction on matters pertaining to Islam.
Kaliammal then took her case to the Court of Appeal.
Meanwhile, Manoharan said an enlarged quorum should hear Kaliammal’s appeal as the outcome would have a bearing on two other cases brought by non-Muslim wives against their husbands who had converted to Islam.
The cases are also pending before the Court of Appeal.
