Police in Australia’s New South Wales state have been given more powers to remove burkas and other face coverings to identify crime suspects.
Anyone who refuses to show their face could now be jailed for up to a year or face a heavy fine.
The move follows the recent case of a Muslim woman who was acquitted after a judge ruled her Islamic veil made a positive identification impossible.
Islamic leaders in the state said they were comfortable with the new measure.
However, civil liberty groups expressed concern that the police were being given powers they did not need.
Categories: Australia
Laws need to be enforced and social cohesion is of paramount importance. I think as moderate Muslims, in this day and age, we should not insist on Burqa. Perhaps, Hijab would serve the purposes of modest dressing and many sensible and insightful non-Muslims are trying to make the distinction.
Many have supported the rights to Hijab, we recently covered a news about weight lifting, where non-Muslim authorities had made very sensible decisions about Hijab.