Women behind veils give security jitters to police in UP

Lucknow: A week ago, two "girls", clad in jeans and jacket and a tightly wrapped veil, were seen speeding away on their scooty through a no-entry zone in Uttar Pradesh's capital Lucknow. The cops tried to stop them but the two refused to slow down. As the police sent out messages on the wireless and just when the PCR approached them, the scooty skidded and the two fell down on the road.

The cops tried to help the two and their veil came off. The police was shocked to find out that the masked ''girls'' were actually boys. The two were taken to police station and on deeper investigation, it was found that they had robbed and stabbed a man and were speeding away at the time of the incident.

The episode has set the UP police thinking about "pulling off the veil" from the face of young girls, who use scarves or dupattas as masks to avoid possible stalkers or sunburn, as it is posing to be a major security issue due to the hidden identity of the person involved.

According to a senior police official, the two boys who were caught with veils revealed that they always wore a veil to escape identification after committing a crime. They admitted that several criminals were using the same technique.

"The cops often ask the suspicious elements to remove the helmets but girls wearing veils are never asked to do the same because of obvious reasons. We are now seriously thinking of bringing a rule that will ban wearing veils but we have to take religious issues into consideration as well," said the official.

A retired DGP said that he was not allowed to take action in the matter in the previous Samajwadi Party government even though he had definite information that girls frequenting a particular hotel/restaurant were allegedly involved in sex trade.

"The girls came and went with scarves on their faces and no one could recognize them outside. The then government did not allow me to carry out a raid," he said.

Pooja Talwar, a Lucknow University student, objected to the talk of forced removal of veils in high security zones.

"Why should we remove the scarf or duppatta? Women wearing burqa are not asked to raise their veils," said Ms Talwar.

Shaily Kumar, a student of a prestigious women's college in Lucknow, explained, "We cover our faces to escape possible stalkers. In fact, I bring an extra scarf to college and if I feel that someone is following me, I change my scarf when I go out of college".

Incidentally, it was because of a scarf that a girl was killed in Nagpur due to mistaken identity in 2011 because she had exchanged her scarf with that of her friend, who was the actual target of a violent attack.

Several other girls said that they cover their faces with dupattas or scarves to save themselves from pollution and sunburn but the argument has few takers.

"Why don't they use a good sunscreen to avoid sunburn? Why do they have to tightly cover the entire face? We also move outdoors but have never felt the need to do so," said Shifali Kapoor, a young executive working with a MNC.

Girls, who wear these veils and ride two-wheelers, also pose a major traffic hazard. "The girls leave a thin slit for the eyes and cannot look around. There have been accidents where the girls could not see vehicles passing by. Many girls also use earphones under the veils which is another major hazard," said a Ram Pravesh, a traffic constable. Parents, meanwhile, express helplessness on the issue.

"My daughters do not listen to me. They do not cover her face while stepping out of the house but I know that they wear the veil once they are far away from the house," said a hapless mother who has two teenage daughters.