According to U Aslam, an advocate practicing at Ponneri sub-court, his brother Imtiaz was married to T Rahmath Nisha in February, 2016. When disputes arose between them, the couple had approached the Tiruvallur district Anaithu Muslim Jamat for mediation. Though the issue remained unresolved, the Jamat directed Imtiaz to live with his wife, failing which it would inform all local mosques not to issue a no-objection certificates to other family members for marriage and other purposes.

After this, as their reconciliation attempts failed, Imtiaz divorced his wife in accordance to Shariat, the petitioner said, and added that the Jamat responded with a circular on April 5, 2017, to all mosques in the district not to issue NOC for marriage to him and his younger brother.

This affected the marriage of his younger sibling, Mustaq, that was fixed for Wednesday, alleged the petitioner, charging the Jamat of employing henchmen to stop the marriage by threatening the bride’s parents. Despite several police complaints about the Jamath performing judicial acts, no action has been forthcoming, he said.

The petitioner’s counsel S Silambu Selvan cited an earlier order by the High Court deprecating the practice of parallel judicial system under the guise of conciliation proceedings, and submitted that if the intentions of the Jamat were genuine, it could only endeavour to resolve the disputes under the personal law. If the efforts were not successful, it can only advise the parties to approach appropriate courts for necessary relief as per law.

Following the petition, the division bench comprising Justice S Manikumar and Justice S Subramonium Prasad directed Tiruvallur SP to hold a probe on the allegations made.