THIRUVANATHAPURAM: Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan admitted that the police have information that religious courts named 'Darul Huda’ are functioning in the state.
The Home Minister, replying to a submission by Aryadan Mohammed (Congress) in the Assembly on Tuesday, said that, however, there was no proof that these courts worked on the lines of the Taliban-model.
He said that as per information, the cases which came up before these religious courts were mostly of family disputes, border disputes, property disputes and cases relating to a particular community.
He also announced a probe into the functioning of these courts. Appropriate legal action would be taken if these courts were found to be violating the law of the land.
Kodiyeri said that as per information, the Popular Front of India (PFI) had 20 feeder organisations. The PFI claimed that a committee under Imams Council, one of its feeder organisations, was functioning to resolve personal disputes of the community with the recognition of the Muslim Personal Law Board. Kodiyeri said that parallel courts could not be allowed in Democracy.
He said that ‘Darul Huda’ was inaugurated last year in Malappuram district by All- India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) Secretary Maulana Wali Rahman.
Earlier, moving the submission on Taliban-model parallel courts, Aryadan Mohammed called for strong action against the PFI. He said that the state government should take serious note of media reports about the functioning of such courts in the state.
Aryadan said the remarks made by the Chief Minister recently on the PFI were based on documents seized during the raids carried out in connection with the case relating to the chopping of the hands of the lecturer of the Thodupuzha college. The documents were authored by extremist Sarfraz Nawaz.
Nawas was earlier a PDP activist.