The head of Muslim Education Society (MES) in Kerala, Dr PA Fazal Ghafoor on Saturday filed a police complaint in Kozhikode claiming that he received death threats for banning face veils on campuses.
In the wake of Sri Lanka blasts that killed 253 people, MES, which runs several educational institutions, issued circular banning girl students from covering their faces in colleges from the new academic year.
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According to a report in NDTV, Ghafoor in his complaint with subject line “death threat on phone” said, “I received a phone call from a mobile on Friday, threatening to kill me. It was a male voice and he used very harsh, threatening and demeaning words on me”.
Earlier in 2014, Ghafoor had courted controversy when he said that the ‘Naqab’ or veil, used by Muslim women to cover their faces, is “un-Islamic”.
The Muslim institute had in 2015 banned girl students from wearing jeans, short tops and leggings in the colleges run by it. As per the dress code, the students were supposed to wear salwar, churidar bottom and an overcoat. Muslim students were permitted to wear a headscarf.
Sri Lanka issued a Presidential decree banning all forms of face covers including Islamic garments such as burqa in the wake of the April 21 serial blasts.
The influential All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama too had asked women to avoid wearing face veils in order to help security forces.
