Nusrat Parveen, whose niqab was pulled by CM Nitish Kumar, may not join govt job

Nusrat Parveen, whose niqab was pulled by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar while giving away appointment letters to newly recruited AYUSH doctors, has decided not to join the government service.

The hijab-wearing young woman found herself humiliated when the chief minister pulled her niqab, partially revealing her face in front of the gathered audience. While some people present were seen laughing, deputy CM Samrat Choudhary stopped Nitish.

The event, held at the CM’s residence on Monday, December 15, was conducted to distribute appointment letters to 1,283 Ayush doctors involved in the Ayurvedic, Homoeopathic, and Unani fields.

Parveen is supposed to join the service on December 20. However, according to her family members, she has decided against it, although they are trying their best to convince her.

“She is determined not to join the service. We are telling her that it is the fault of the other person, so why should she feel bad or suffer because of it?” Parveen’s brother was quoted by eNewsroom. He is based in Kolkata and works as a professor at a government law university.

Nitish Kumar’s video went massively, with the main Opposition party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), questioning the CM’s act, raising doubts about his mental health. “What has happened to Nitish Ji? His mental state has reached a pitiable condition or he has fully embraced RSS ideology,” read their X post.

UP minister and BJP leader Sanjay Nishad remarked that the incident had been unnecessarily blown out of proportion. “Arey, woh bhi toh aadmi hain na, peeche nahi padna chahiye. Naqab chhoo diya toh itna ho gaya… kahin aur chhoo dete toh kya ho jaata (Oh, he is a man after all, don’t get after him. He just touched the naqab… what if he had touched elsewhere),” he said, smiling during the interaction.

Later, he alleged his words were being exaggerated and politicised unnecessarily.

So far, there has been no official statement either from the chief minister’s office or from Janata Dal (United) party.

Hyderabad activists file complaints against Bihar CM

Earlier in the day, Hyderabad’s prominent activists, Khalida Parveen and Lubna Sarwath, filed police complaints urging action against Nitish Kumar.

Speaking to reporters, Khalida Parveen said that a person holding a high constitutional office is expected to uphold the rule of law and act as a role model for society at large. “The act of forceful removal of a muslim woman’s veil is not only a violation of her right to privacy and dignity guaranteed under Article 21 but also equivalent to snatching away her fundamental right to live according to one’s culture and religious freedom as guaranteed by Article 25Constitution of India,” her complaint stated.