Veteran lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar has strongly criticised a viral video from Bihar showing Chief Minister Nitish Kumar pulling down the hijab of a woman doctor during a government programme in Patna. The incident, caught on camera, has triggered widespread outrage and renewed debate around power, consent, and dignity.
The video shows Nitish Kumar handing over appointment letters to newly selected AYUSH doctors. When a woman doctor wearing a hijab stepped forward, the Chief Minister gestured at her face and, before she could react, pulled down her hijab himself, exposing her mouth and chin. The moment lasted only a few seconds but left the woman visibly startled in front of a large audience and television cameras.
People present on stage appeared uncomfortable. Some were seen laughing awkwardly, while Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary tried to stop Nitish Kumar by pulling at his sleeve. The woman doctor stood frozen, clearly caught off guard.
Reacting to the video, Javed Akhtar took to social media and condemned the act in strong words. While reiterating that he has long opposed the idea of parda and face coverings, Akhtar said that nothing could justify what happened. “Everyone who knows me even in the most cursory manner knows how much I am against the traditional concept of parda,” he wrote. “But it doesn’t mean that by any stretch of imagination I can accept what Mr Nitish Kumar has done to a Muslim lady doctor. I condemn it in very strong words. Mr Nitish Kumar owes an unconditional apology to the lady.”
Akhtar made it clear that personal beliefs about clothing do not give anyone the right to touch a woman without her consent or humiliate her publicly. For him, the issue went beyond religion and was about basic respect and boundaries.
The controversy has also brought renewed attention to Akhtar’s earlier views on hijab and burqa. Speaking at the SOA Literary Festival earlier this year, he had said that a woman’s strength has nothing to do with what she wears. At the same time, he questioned why a woman should feel the need to cover her face. “Why should you be ashamed of your face?” he had asked, adding that decency applies equally to men and women, but decency does not mean hiding one’s face.
Akhtar had also argued that what is often described as “choice” is shaped by social pressure. “If she says she is doing it on her own, then she is brainwashed,” he said at the event, claiming that approval and conditioning play a big role in such decisions.
The Indian National Congress also reacted sharply to the Patna incident. In a social media post, the party accused Nitish Kumar of misusing his position and behaving in a “shameful” manner. The Congress questioned how safe women could feel in Bihar if such an act was committed publicly by the Chief Minister himself and demanded his resignation, calling the incident “unforgivable.”
The video, involving a senior constitutional authority and a young woman at a public event, continues to draw criticism from across the political and cultural spectrum, with many saying it reflects a troubling abuse of power and disregard for a woman’s dignity.
