Hyderabad: Violating UIDAI guidelines, Muslim women are being asked by staff at the Karvy centre at Banjara Hills to remove their headscarf for recording biometrics. Women allege that the problem exists only at this particular centre.
“I got my Aadhaar card from a Mee-Seva centre and my head was covered. However, my sister who went to the Karvy enrolment centre was forced to remove the hijab,” says Ms Syeda Sultana.
“We were asked to remove the scarf and when we objected, they said it was an established rule and couldn’t be changed. We obliged as we needed an Aadhaar card immediately,” said Ms Syeda Rafiya, a resident of Nampally.
“It is probably only this centre which is denying us the right. I thought mine was a one-off case of the operator being unaware about the rules, but the supervisor, Mr Raju, told me that they have been doing this for over four years now. He even said that no picture had ever been captured in hijab at the centre,” said an angered Ms Sakina Fatima.
“When I tried to create awareness about the gross violation amongst the other women present at the centre, I was shooed away by the authorities,” she added.
When questioned, the operators collecting the biometrics defended the action saying that they had directions from the senior management.
“We have directions from the management. Also, this exists in the rule book of UIDAI,” claimed one of the operators.
However, as per UIDAI guidelines “accessories like turban/head gear are allowed as religious/ traditional practices”.
When asked to be put in touch with Mr Raju, the supervisor of the centre, the operators initially said that he had gone on a break and would return in some time. Later they said that he was on leave and would not be available to comment on the issue.
Calling this a bias towards the religious practices of Muslims, Mr Asifuddin Muhammed, scholar and president of Islamic Academy for Comparative Religion Hyderabad, said, “The people involved should be prosecuted as per law to maintain communal neutrality in the country.”
“The command for practicing hijab comes from the Quran and it is extremely important for Muslim women to cover their heads,” he added.
