NEW DELHI: A leader of India’s Samajwadi Party on Thursday filed a complaint against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for forcibly removing the veil of a newly appointed Muslim doctor during an official event.
Political leaders and journalists have strongly criticized the Chief Minister of Bihar after a video went viral showing him forcibly removing the hijab of Nusrat Parveen at the CM’s secretariat, where appointment letters were being distributed to newly recruited doctors.
Samajwadi Party leader Sumaiya Rana lodged a formal complaint at a Lucknow police station against Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Minister Sanjay Nishad, according to Indian media reports. Rana warned that Kumar’s actions set a dangerous precedent, suggesting that it could encourage others to commit similar acts.
Advocate Misham Zaidi, who accompanied Rana to the police station, stated that the actions and comments of both politicians incited religious sentiments and could further fuel communal tensions. Zaidi urged the authorities to invoke Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Kumar for forcibly grabbing and pulling the hijab of the Muslim woman.
Section 354 of the IPC pertains to assault or criminal force against a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty.
Observers say the incident is yet another example of how India’s ruling establishment continues to undermine its own claims of secularism, while systematically marginalising Muslims and infringing upon basic religious freedoms — developments that further erode India’s global standing and expose the widening gap between its constitutional ideals and political reality.
