The National Registration Department (NRD) and Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi may be looking at serious legal repercussions, including jail time, for their responses to the Court of Appeal's landmark decision regarding out of wedlock Muslim children.

Former Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram said both the NRD and Zahid may have committed contempt of court.

"The situation is not without remedy. The successful litigant may apply to the court to punish the offending person for contempt of court...