The woman whose hijab was pulled down by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar reportedly wants to opt out of the state government job she was appointed for.
Nusrat Parveen had attended the event at Samvad, the Bihar CM’s secretariat in Patna, where appointment letters were handed out to government Ayush system doctors.
A video from the event emerged earlier this week, showing Kumar asking "What is this?" before reaching down and removing the doctor’s face covering.
Parveen is scheduled to join service on December 20.
“She is determined not to join the service,” her brother told a local publication. “However, all family members, including me, are trying to convince her otherwise. We are telling her that it is the fault of the other person, so why should she feel bad or suffer because of it.”
Union minister Giriraj Singh, never one to hold back, came out strongly in defence of the chief minister on Thursday.
“Nitish Kumar has not done anything wrong,” Singh told PTI Videos. “If someone is going to collect an appointment letter, should they not show their face? Is this some Islamic country? Nitish Kumar acted as a guardian. If you are going to get a passport, do you show your face or not? When you go to the airport, do you show it or not? People talk about Pakistan and Englishtan, but this is India. In India, the rule of law prevails.
“Nitish Kumar did the right thing. Whether the girl refuses the job or goes to hell, that's her choice,” he added.
Bihar health minister Mangal Pandey on Thursday said he was not aware of reports that the doctor had refused to join duty. "I have no such information", Pandey told reporters.
Singh is not the only politician whose remarks on the incident have triggered outrage.
Uttar Pradesh minister Sanjay Nishad’s defence of Kumar had also raised eyebrows.
“He [Kumar] is also a person; one should not go after someone so much,” Nishad had told a TV channel on Tuesday as the outrage over Kumar’s action snowballed. “What happened if the veil was removed? What would have happened if he had touched somewhere else?”
A day later, Nishad told PTI: “My remark was tweaked and twisted, misinterpreted, its spirit lost in cacophony and translation. If someone has taken offence, I am willing to take back the words from my side.
“Just as language and expressions vary in Haryana, Delhi, Maharashtra or Tamil Nadu, dialects in north India and eastern Uttar Pradesh also differ. That does not mean there was any intention to insult,” he added.
Nishad doubled down on his defence of Nitish Kumar, saying the Bihar chief minister had “merely removed” the veil to verify whether the actual beneficiary of a government scheme was present.
He insisted there was “neither malice nor any intention of disrespect” and accused some people of amplifying the issue for political gain.
Opposition parties rejected Nishad’s explanations and stepped up their attack.
“Nitish Kumar, who was once considered a secular leader, may be slowly showing his true colours,” Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said.
He said removing the face veil of a Muslim woman doctor was wrong and unjustifiable.
“If the chief minister did not want to hand over the order to her, they could have kept her aside. However, to humiliate her like this is totally wrong,” he said.
Congress’s Uttar Pradesh chief Ajay Rai called Nishad’s comment “outrageously anti-women”. “We seek unconditional apology failing which we will seek minister's dismissal,” Rai told PTI.
Samajwadi Party spokesperson Abbas Haider described the remarks as “condemnable and undignified”.
“I would also like to ask if this is the idea of the BJP led government in UP which the minister has reflected in his statements,” Haider said, while demanding “an immediate and unconditional apology.”
AAP’s UP unit accused Nishad of making “shameful” and “anti-women” comments, saying they reflected a “crude and misogynistic mindset”. Social media platforms were also flooded with posts criticising the minister.
SP spokesperson Sumaiyya Rana lodged a complaint on Wednesday with the Lucknow police against both Nishad and Kumar.
Speaking to PTI Videos, Rana said that as someone who herself wears a hijab she would not remain silent if such an act was committed against her. She said the video of the Bihar CM pulling the hijab of a woman had angered many women.
Rana submitted a written complaint at the Kaisarbagh police station seeking registration of an FIR. Alleging delay, she said she was first sent to Gautampalli police station before her complaint was accepted, with police saying an FIR would be registered after inquiry.
Assistant commissioner of police, Kaisarbagh, Ratnesh Singh reportedly said the matter was under investigation.