Court: NRD cannot block Hindu woman's civil marriage over father's Muslim status
KUALA LUMPUR: A High Court in Malacca has ruled that the National Registration Department (NRD) cannot prevent a Hindu woman from registering her civil marriage solely because her father is recorded as a Muslim.
In a landmark ruling, a High Court in Malacca has declared that the National Registration Department (NRD) cannot prevent a Hindu woman from registering her civil marriage due to her father's Muslim status. Judicial Commissioner S.K. Raja Segaran stated that the law considers the religion of the person seeking to marry, not the religion of their parents.
Section 3(3) of the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act applies when one party professes Islam, but it does not inquire into the religious background of the person's parents.
The ruling came after the 25-year-old woman challenged the NRD's refusal to process her marriage application, which arose when she applied in March. The NRD raised concerns about her legitimacy and her father's recorded religion. However, the court had previously declared her to be the legitimate child of her parents in a 2011 Shah Alam High Court order. The NRD had agreed to this order and provided it as evidence.
The court found that the woman had always practiced Hinduism and was raised in the faith. There was no evidence of her ever converting to Islam, nor any conversion certificates or records from religious authorities indicating otherwise. The court noted that the NRD could not disregard the earlier court order simply because its administrative records did not explicitly state her legitimacy under Muslim law.
Raja Segaran emphasized that a parent's religion could not determine the religion of an adult child. He ruled that the NRD had no lawful basis to reject the woman's marriage application solely based on her father's recorded Muslim status. The court ordered the NRD to receive, process, and determine her application within 30 days and prohibited the department from rejecting or delaying the application based on her legitimacy, the annulment of her parents' marriage, or her father's recorded religion.
The judge also noted that the case should not have been necessary, as the NRD had already consented to the 2011 legitimacy declaration. He stated, "A citizen should not have to litigate twice to establish a status that the State has once agreed to and recorded." No order was made regarding costs.
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