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IAMC urges accountability over Bihar veil incident
Interfaith advocates condemn treatment of Muslim women after Bihar chief minister’s actions at government event.
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Rwittika Chakraborty
- Wed, 24, Dec 2025
- 03:37 EST
- 10
The Indian American Muslim Council is an advocacy group with multiple chapters across the United States. / IAMC website
The Indian American Muslim Council on Dec. 23 called for accountability from Indian authorities following an incident in which Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar forcibly pulled down the face veil of Muslim doctor Nusrat Parveen during a government event in India.
The call came during a Congressional briefing in Washington, where global interfaith advocates described the incident as part of a broader pattern of violations targeting visibly Muslim women under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
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“Hijab has become a political weapon; it's political point scoring, especially in the context of India and South Asia,” said Shreen Mahmood, a board member at World Hijab Day. She said Muslim women face religious hatred, patriarchy and state control, adding that “Muslim women's bodies have become a battleground for ideology.”
Anuradha Banerji, an activist-researcher from India representing the All India Feminist Alliance–National Alliance of People’s Movements, said the seriousness of the incident lay in its “apparent casualness,” noting Kumar is often portrayed as moderate or secular. She said subsequent defenses by other ministers showed how widespread the problem has become.
“Public officials must be held accountable for violating bodily autonomy,” Banerji said, calling for legal redress if Parveen seeks it and urging that Muslim women be recognized as political agents, not symbols.
Safa Ahmed, associate media director of IAMC, said Muslim women in India have faced harassment affecting education, health care and employment for years. “This didn’t begin with Nitish Kumar,” she said.
Reverend Neal Christie, cofounder of The Religious Nationalisms Project, said Hindu nationalist ideology has increased risks of violence and displacement. Ria Chakrabarty, policy director for Hindus for Human Rights, said humiliating any woman should be unacceptable, regardless of identity.
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