Lawyer Haresh Mahadevan, representing Ismanira Abdul Manaf, 31, said the petition was filed at the Shah Alam High Court on Monday.

He said the petition was filed, among others, on the grounds that the prosecution had misdirected itself by preferring a charge under Section 31 instead of Section 33 of the Child Act 2001.

“Although the appellant was charged under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001 for neglect, the sessions court convicted the appellant on the basis of failure to provide reasonable supervision.

“This in fact constitutes a separate offence under Section 33, which carries different elements and punishment. Therefore, the appellant was convicted of an offence for which she was never charged,” Bernama reported him as saying today.

According to the petition, the sessions court judge also misdirected herself in rejecting the evidence of a qualified expert put forward by the defence solely on the grounds that he did not examine the child, whereas the prosecution relied on expert opinions from people who were neither called as witnesses nor had examined the child.

The petition alleged that the rejection was arbitrary, disproportionate, and amounted to a serious misdirection in the evaluation of expert evidence.

Previously, Ismanira had filed a notice of appeal through Messrs Haresh Mahadevan & Co against the conviction and the entirety of the decision delivered by Petaling Jaya sessions court judge Syahliza Warnoh on Oct 31, 2025.

Syahliza had ruled that the defence had failed to raise reasonable doubt and ordered Ismanira to begin serving her prison sentence immediately, in addition to signing a two-year good behaviour bond with one surety and bail of RM3,000 upon release.

Ismanira was also ordered to perform 120 hours of community service to be completed within six months after completing her prison term.

Zayn was reported missing in Damansara Damai on Dec 5, 2023, and was found dead the next day.