Mumbai: Municipal commissioner of the city has issued directions to the hospitals and its staff to not ask Burqa wearing Muslim women to remove it and has asked police women on duty to frisk such women if there is a need to that effect.
The circular is passed following a strong protest by Burqa clad Muslim women against being asked to remove Burqa as a security measure by the city’s police guarding Municipal hospitals.
There were many incidences reported in the past from Municipal hospitals showing sufferings faced by the Burqa women at the hands of police guards when they went to hospitals to avail medical facilities.
On Friday Congress MLA Amin Patel along with corporators and a group of Burqa clad women met city’s Municipal commissioner Sanjay Deshmukh and strongly protested the act of police guarding hospitals, reported Twocircles.net.
Waqrunnisa, a lady corporator told Deshmukh, “We feel insulted when police ask us to remove our whole burqa. When they ask us to show our face we show them but many times they ask us to remove whole burqa as a security measure. Looking at this the hospital authority too does the same with us.”
“We are Muslim and this is our culture that we don’t move without Burqa. When we show our faces then why do they ask us to remove whole burqa?” she questioned.
Deshmukh took serious note of the complaint and immediately issued circular to his staff and municipal hospitals asking police women stationed at the hospitals to only frisk Burqa wearing women and prohibited policemen from asking such women from removing their Burqa.
The delegation offered gratitude to the commissioner for patient hearing and issuing immediate circular to stop the annoyance caused to the Burqa wearing women.