By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
Bhubaneswar : In an extraordinary move to satisfy the Muslims in the State, the government of Orissa has decided to follow Islamic laws in cases dealing with Muslim women.
The state government will go by Islamic laws as "we need not enter into controversies by entertaining cases relating to Muslim women", Women and Child Development Minister Pramilla Mallick said while addressing a two-day training camp of protection officers for implementation of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 (PWDV) here Monday.
Mallick said the government faced opposition from the Muslim community when it tried to intervene when one Nazma Bibi’s husband wanted to withdraw talaq given in an inebriated state in Bhadrak last year.
"The government faced Muslims’ ire by trying to help Nazma Bibi. Admitting that a large number of Muslim women, like their Hindu counterparts, also face violence by their relatives in houses," she said.
"What can we do? With Nazma’s experience, we will like to take steps with adequate precaution," she added.
The minister said she had asked protection officers and NGO activists to think twice while they try to implement laws under PWDV for Muslim women.