Veils a personal choice: Bangladesh court

April 10, 2010 12:41 am | Updated November 12, 2016 04:57 am IST - DHAKA:

The High Court of Bangladesh has ruled that no woman should be forced to wear a veil at educational institutions.

It was women's personal choice whether they wore scarves or covered their heads, said the court.

The court directed the Education Ministry to ensure the implementation of its order.

The verdict is on a writ petition filed following a report that an education officer in Kurigram insulted a woman teacher last year by making a disgraceful remark.

“It is the personal choice of a women to wear a veil, if any person tries to compel a woman to wear a veil against her consent or will that amounts to a violation of her fundamental right as enshrined in the Constitution,” observed the court.

A two-judge bench, comprising Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Afsar Jahan, also asked the government to enforce its earlier guidelines to prevent sexual harassment of women and girls at educational institutions, offices, factories and other workplaces.

The court on May 14 last year had directed the authorities concerned to form five-member harassment complaint committees headed by women, and with women as majority members, at all workplaces and institutions to investigate allegations of harassment of women.

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