By Sarah Hannan Following the Easter Sunday attacks of 21 April 2019, former President Maithripala Sirisena imposed a ban on face coverings including the niqab, the burqa, and full-face helmets from 29 April 2019 onwards under emergency regulations. With the emergency regulations being relaxed, the ban on face covers including niqabs and burqas was lifted in September 2019. This was communicated to the then Minister of Muslim Religious Affairs by the Police Headquarters of Colombo through a letter dated 7 September 2019. Even after the ban on niqabs and burqas were removed, the public seems to be unaware of it, with some institutions still refusing entry to women who are wearing such attire, indicating security concerns. Earlier last week, a viral video was circulated where a person was videoing a Muslim woman who was wearing a niqab. When the woman noticed that the person was following her and commenting on her attire, she turned around and demanded that he stop videoing her. With the video gaining traction on social media, some people started commenting in support of the Muslim woman, some posted racial remarks, and some even went to the extent of requesting the boycotting of the supermarket in question, as the employees stood by and watched as the woman was being harassed and videoed by the man. Some even presumed it was an employee of the supermarket who had made the video. Arpico Supercentre Wattala Branch Manager Lahiru Jayasekara, speaking to The Sunday Morning, stated that the incident had occurred between two persons who had visited the Commercial Bank counter within the supermarket premises. “The incident took place in a span of about three minutes where the Muslim lady and the person who was videoing her got into an argument. One of our security officers, upon observing the commotion, had mediated and halted the argument. We also noticed that the man who was videoing was drunk; he held his mobile phone in one hand and was carrying his child in the other hand,” Jayasekara explained. No restrictions on attire In the video, the man who was videoing informs the Muslim woman that she ignored the sign that is put up at the entrance of the supermarket which banned women from entering premises wearing niqabs and burqas. Jayasekara, providing a clarification, stated that their establishment has never imposed dress codes on any of their customers or stopped people from entering the premises based on their ethnicity. He also confirmed that they have never placed a sign saying women wearing burqas and niqabs are not permitted to enter the supermarket. Given that the supermarket serves about 35% Muslims in the area, Jayasekara assured that the supermarket, since its establishment in Wattala, has always strived to treat all customers equally, regardless of their ethnicity or religious beliefs. Jayasekara stated that they had taken measures to take down the video and had officially informed Facbeook to make the necessary arrangements to remove the video from its newsfeed. He also revealed that police investigations were underway regarding the incident as well. However, when we inquired from the Wattala Police about the status of the investigation, they informed The Sunday Morning that preliminary investigations were carried out, but as none of the people involved in the video had made any formal complaints to the Police, they were not in a position to conduct further investigations over the said incident. Consider others’ views Department of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs Director A.B.M. Ashraff stated that when the incident took place, the management of the supermarket should have intervened and stopped the person from videoing another customer. “The supermarket should ensure that the rights of the customers are respected and they could have easily stopped this issue becoming viral. While the Government has removed the ban on Muslim women wearing the niqab, as Sri Lankan citizens, we have to be mindful about the genuine concern of the public as well.” Ashraff pointed out that while ladies have the right to wear the attire of their choice and have the freedom to decide whether they want to cover their faces, they should be considerate about the views of others. A representative from the Muslim Women’s Research and Action Forum stated that it was unacceptable that many try to defend the right to cover the face as a religious doctrine. While women can choose whether or not to cover their faces in public, the religion does not dictate that all women should cover their faces. “The lady in the video should not have brought in religion as a defence; if she had said that it was her personal choice to cover her face, we could all agree about it. As an organisation, we are trying to create awareness among people that Islam is not about wearing specific attire, but it is about modesty,” she commented. We contacted Women In Need (WIN) to find out more about the nature of the rights that were violated in the incident. They responded stating that, by videoing the Muslim woman without her consent and publishing it online, the man had violated her fundamental rights and instigated cyberbullying. The All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama refused to comment on the incident.