Jharkhand mehendi artists denied entry to venue, asked to remove hijab

Hazaribagh: A mehendi artist and her team were asked to remove their hijab before applying mehendi and were allegedly insulted in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh. Following the altercation, the artists refused and left the venue.

In a video that has been circulating online, Alia Ahmed and her team of mehendi artists were asked to take off their hijabs to enter the Hotel Aranya Vihar, where they were to apply mehendi for a client.

“Bohot dikkat hai. Jaise tumko dikkat hai hijab me nai rehne ki waise hume dikkat hai isme lagane me. (We have a major problem. Just like you have an issue with not wearing a hijab, we also have a problem with you putting mehendi while wearing it),” a man said at the entrance of the venue.

According to Alia’s video, her client from Delhi had booked her services to apply mehendi on 40-50 people for a wedding. However, when an elderly relative of the family asked them to remove their religious coverings, Alia and her team stood their ground and firmly refused. “Yeh toh aisa galat hai na. Nai utar sakte hai hum. Nai toh phir chod dijiye. Hum wapas chale jayinge,” she told them and promptly left the hotel premises.

“They disrespected our hijab and niqab and said that only if we removed it would we be allowed to put mehendi,” Alia said in her video, recounting the experience.

“We waited long hours in this heat while we were fasting. No one even told us to sit,” she said.

Stating that she has worked for multiple people from various backgrounds and castes, Alia questioned why the client’s family judged her religion and clothing.

“Hamara kaam se matlab hona chahiye. Na ki hamara niqab se (Our work should matter, not our niqab),” she said, adding that one of her students, Pooja, is from another caste as well. “Jab humko koi dikkat nahi hai caste me, toh yeh log ko kyun dikkat hai hamare hijab aur niqab se (If we have no problem with caste, why do they have a problem with our hijab and niqab)” Alia said.

She feared that while the client’s family discriminated against her today, tomorrow, it might be another artist who would be asked to remove their hijab or niqab.