Are Niqabs Banned In UK? Driver Asked Muslim Woman To Remove Veil

A mother who was recently traveling on the First Bus 24 in Bristol, England, with her two-month-old child said she was humiliated and “treated like a terrorist” by a bus driver who insisted that she remove her niqab.

“He said I was scary and I was dangerous, and he kept talking about it during the journey. He was insinuating I was going to bomb the bus. How is that possible, when I’ve got a baby with me?” the 20-year-old anonymous woman claimed, Independent reported.

“He continued to insult me, and he made me out to be a terrorist, and kept saying everyone should see each other’s faces. He asked why I was wearing a balaclava. I've been humiliated in public, and I’m disappointed. It’s 2018, we shouldn’t be like that. I’m being stereotyped, she added.

In a video of the incident recorded by a witness on the bus, another passenger was heard asking the driver, “I don’t understand why you care how she’s dressed. It’s her choice what she wears.”

The driver simply replied, “I care because this world is dangerous... we should see our faces."

There are a number of veils Muslim women wear, as per their cultural norm, three of them being most in vogue – the hijab, a headscarf which covers the hair; the burka, which covers the entire face, with a mesh over the eyes to see out of; and the niqab, which covers the face with just the eyes visible through a slit.

Although many of these veils are banned in a number of European countries, no such law exists in the United Kingdom.

In response to a 2016 petition calling for a ban on “the wearing of a Burka, any full or partial front face coverings in public,” which was signed by 19,765 signatures, the British government said, “Face coverings can be worn in public places for a variety of legitimate reasons. The Government has no intention of making it a criminal offense to wear face coverings.”

In fact, under section 60AA of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, only law enforcement officials are given the right to demand the removal of veils or any other garment covering a part of an individual's face or head, if they believe that it was being used for the purpose of disguise.

Also, “passengers wearing a veil or face covering on arrival in the United Kingdom will be asked to remove their veil so that their appearance can be compared with the photograph on their passport,” the then-minister of state for the Home Office Mike Penning clarified in 2014.

A spokesman for First Bus issued the following statement regarding the incident:

“We would like to fully and unreservedly apologize to the customer for the distress caused when one of our drivers expressed his personal opinions. The driver behaved in an offensive fashion that in no way reflects our deeply held values as an inclusive company which welcomes all people, irrespective of background, race, nationality or religion as customers or employees.”

Nearly a week ago, former British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson made some insensitive remarks, while criticizing Denmark’s newly imposed rule of banning burkas from public places, in an article on the Daily Telegraph.

“If you tell me that the burka is oppressive, then I am with you," he wrote, adding that schools and universities should be given the freedom to remove the veils of Muslim students if any of them "turns up … looking like a bank robber."

“I would go further and say that it is absolutely ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letterboxes; and I thoroughly dislike any attempt by any – invariably male – government to encourage such demonstrations of ‘modesty’,” he added in the article.