T Harjinder Singh, the Penang branch adviser of Sikh Naujawan Sabha (SNS), said the medical report of K Surinder Kaur, 37, showed that she was unconscious from the time she was brought in to the hospital.
“Our question is, if she really converted before her death, where did it take place? And if it was at the hospital, how was it done?
“We are not against her wish to be Muslim, or trying to instigate anything. We are merely concerned over the way she was converted and whether it was genuine,” he said.
Surinder died at the Penang Hospital on Monday from brain injuries sustained in an assault by a man claiming to be her lover.
She was accorded Islamic burial rites at the request of her immediate family, all of whom are Muslim.
Surinder’s brother was said to have declared in a police report that she converted to Islam before her death, but her name is not in the state register of converts, neither is her religion stated as Muslim on her MyKad.
Harjinder said the Penang mufti’s office called them in for a meeting today and told them that Surinder had converted to Islam two weeks ago, based on her brother’s explanation to the office after her death.
He said SNS had had a “fruitful and positive” meeting with the mufti’s office, and that the mufti is eager to meet them this Friday.
He also said they had reached an understanding that if it is found that Surinder did not convert to Islam, her body will be exhumed and given a Sikh cremation by SNS.
Harjinder said the mufti’s office would meet with Surinder’s family soon to ascertain the details of her conversion.
Although SNS and the local gurdwaras (Sikh temples) do not keep records of local Sikhs, he said, based on the accounts of extended family members and friends, neither Surinder nor her immediate family members ever showed up at the temple.
“They were largely disconnected from our community. But all matters concerning Sikhs concern us,” he said.
“If Surinder did not convert when her immediate family members converted, there is a fair chance that she might be a Sikh after all.”