Family broken up by JAIS again

It was another sad story when family is broken up by JAIS just because the mother of a family is belived to be a Muslim. Rubber tapper Marimuthu Periasamy, 43, has today filed habeas corpus writ for the release of his wife Raimah Bibi a/p Noordin and six children, Yoogneswary 12, Paramila 11, Hariharan 8, Ravindran 5, Shamala 5 and Keberan 4 from detention by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department for the past 17 days. Periasamy, who filed the action through DAP National Chairman Karpal Singh as counsel, is seeking to be reunited with his wife and six children who were forcibly separated from him on 2nd April 2007 on the ground that they were Muslims. Below are a brief account of what happened on Marimuthu:

1. Seven officers from Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor (JAIS) came to raid Marimuthu a/l Periasamy’s house in Kampung Baru Tambahan Hulu Yam Lama Selangor on 2^nd April 2007 in the morning and told him that his wife, Raimah Bibi a/p Noordin is a converted Muslim and she has to be sent to rehabitation centre together with their six children (Yogneswary, 12 years old daughter; Paramila, 11 years old daughter; Hariharen, 8 years old son; Shamala, 5 years old daughter; Ravindran, 5 years old son; Kuberan, 4 years old son). Raimah Bibi and Marimuthu have another eldest son name Myuvaneswaran, 14 years old.
2. Mr Marimuthu, a rubber-tapper, was also threatened by one of the Ustaz from JAIS to convert to Islam, else he will be charged as having khalwat with Raimah. He could not do anything but to let JAIS officers to take his wife and children away.
3. Raimah Bibi then returned to his house on 5^th April to help him on his rubber-tapping work. She also told him on what happened to her and the children. He was told that JAIS has rented a house in Muslim Malay populated area in Kampung Melayu Liga Emas so that the neighbours can keep an eye on her daily activities and prevent her from meeting with any outsiders, with particular her Hindu husband.
4. On 7^th April, Mr Marimuthu went straight to her house in Kampung Melayu Liga Emas and tried to talk to her. Raimah Bibi was very afraid and refused to came out and talked to him. Mr Marimuthu could not do anything but to leave.
5. On 13^th April, without Mr Marimuthu’s knowledge, Raimah Bibi brought all her children back to his house and they had a reunion dinner before she and her six children left him again.
6. Raimah Bibi is an Indian who is a practicing Hindu. She was once adopted by a Indian-Muslim family when she was small. Her IC had never indicated that she was a Muslim until when she applied for her MyKad and that her name was changed to Rahimah Bibi bt Noordin and she is indentified as a Muslim. Both Marimuthu and Raimah did not apply for correction with the National Registration Department (NRD).
7. Birth certificates of all Marimuthu’s children also indicate that Raimah is an Hindu Indian.
8. It was suspected that the authority comes to know about Raimah’s Muslim identity in her Mykad (which is a mistake) when Raimah and Marimuthu enrolled their children to study in Sekolah Kebangsaan Bandar Baru Batang Kali when copies of parents’ identity cards were submitted to the education department.