Woman forced to remove burqa in UP
District administration orders probe into incident that took place before Chief Minister’s rally
The Uttar Pradesh (UP) district administration yesterday ordered a probe into the incident of a Muslim woman being forced to take off her burqa in public at state chief minister (CM) Yogi Adityanath’s rally in Balia district.
A video showing the woman, later identified as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) volunteer Saira, being made to take off her burqa on Tuesday has gone viral. In the clip, the woman is seen struggling to remove the burqa without exposing her head. After that she covers her head with another piece of cloth.
Adityanath rally
According to sources, police asked the woman to remove her burqa minutes before Adityanath arrived at the rally.
District Magistrate Surendra Vikram informed Gulf News that the video footage has been received and a departmental inquiry ordered into the matter.
“The city magistrate has been asked to conduct an inquiry into this matter and action will be taken against those found guilty,” Vikram said.
Ballia Superintendent of Police Anil Kumar said he had no information of the incident. “I have not been informed of any incident where a woman was asked to take off her burqa. Whatever is being reported will be probed and action will be taken,” Kumar told media.
The incident occurred after an earlier episode in Meerut on Saturday, when some youth displayed black flags at a rally attended by Adityanath. BJP UP state president Mahendra Nath Pandey was highlighting the party’s achievements during the civic rally when the youth appeared from nowhere and started displaying black flags and shouting anti-BJP slogans.