The Orissa government plans to to follow Islamic laws in cases dealing with 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 on 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.".
The minister said she had asked protection officers and NGO activists to think twice while they try to implement laws under the Protection of Women Against Domestic Violence Act for Muslim women.
The minister was addressing a two-day training camp of protection officers for implementation of the PWDV Act.
