KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 — Police were mistaken in thinking shariah law allowed a Muslim convert to abduct his child after losing custody to the mother, said former de facto law minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz.

According to the Cabinet minister who championed legal safeguards against child conversions during his time in charge of the law portfolio, the father in this case was clearly wrong to have taken his son without his estranged wife’s permission as the High Court has given her custody of their two children.

“It is a civil law marriage, it is the civil court, we must respect the civil court’s ruling. They have the jurisdiction,” Nazri was quoted as saying in a report by The Star newspaper today.

“The High Court judge’s ruling was correct. The police shouldn’t allow him to get away with kidnapping the child.”

The Cabinet introduced a prohibition against unilateral child conversions during Nazri’s time as law minister in 2009, ostensibly to prevent the complicated custodial battles that frequently arise when one spouse converts to Islam.

Although the current case in Seremban does not include child conversion, it is reminiscent of the legal complexities that occur when one spouse embraces Islam after marriage.

On Monday, the Seremban High Court granted S. Deepa full custody of her two children ― a nine-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son ― as her marriage to N. Viran in 2004 was a civil union and did not come under Shariah law.

Justice Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof also permitted her to divorce Viran who converted to Islam in 2012, and had taken the Muslim name of Izwan Abdullah.

Viran allegedly snatched their son from outside her house in Jelebu, Negri Sembilan on Wednesday, following a previous order by a shariah court which awarded custody to him instead.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said that the police will not investigate Izwan for abducting his son despite the High Court order.

He argued that there was no case for abduction as the Shariah High Court had earlier awarded full custody of the two children to Izwan.