PDP leader Iltija Mufti on Friday lodged a police complaint seeking the registration of an FIR against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for recently pulling off the veil from a woman doctor’s face. However, there was no word from the police on whether an FIR has been registered against the JD-U chief.
‘When a CM breaks the law, it sends wrong message’
After lodging FIR against Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Iltija Mufti said, “I believe what I am saying is right. When a Chief Minister breaks the law, it sends a wrong message and encourages communal behaviour.”
She further added, “What does he (Giriraj Singh) mean by saying Islamic country. No one has the right to morally police women over what they wear—whether pants, hijab, or abaya—and such comments are insensitive and unacceptable. No one has the right to do moral policing.”
Iltija says BJP leaders attempting to justify the act
On FIR against Nitish Kumar, Iltija Mufti said, "Instead of apologising, the Bihar Chief Minister’s allied BJP leaders are making vulgar statements and attempting to justify the act..."
“I’m writing to bring to your attention a vile incident which has caused immense distress and hurt among Muslims, especially women. A few days ago, we watched with shock, horror and worry as Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar pulled down the ‘naqab’ of a young Muslim doctor in full public glare at a government function,” Mufti said in her complaint to the Kothibagh SHO.
She added that what made “matters worse was the unsettling reaction of the people around, including the deputy chief minister, who chuckled and watched with glee”.
‘Forceful stripping of ‘naqab’ was assault on Indian woman’
“The forceful stripping of her ‘naqab’ wasn’t just a brutal assault on a Muslim lady but on the autonomy, identity and dignity of every Indian woman,” Mufti alleged.
The incident, a video clip of which has been circulated widely, sparking a major political row, took place on Monday at the chief minister’s secretariat in Patna where Ayush doctors gathered to receive their letters of appointment.
When the woman came up for her letter, Kumar saw her 'naqab', said “what is this” and then removed the veil, prompting the opposition parties to demand an unconditional apology from the chief minister. Mufti said it was more concerning that the incident took place amid the “deliberate othering and political and economic disempowerment of Muslims all across India”.
The complaint said in the days following the "shameful" incident, “we have witnessed with abject horror videos of miscreants pulling off the naqabs of Muslim women across India”. “Perhaps a chief minister engaging in this vulgar act of indecency has now emboldened such lumpen elements, giving them carte blanche (complete freedom) to humiliate and attack Muslim women,” the PDP leader alleged in her complaint.
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