Bihar: Girl accuses bank in Begusarai of denying money for ‘wearing hijab’

PATNA/BEGUSARAI: Amid the ongoing controversy over the hijab in Karnataka, a video has surfaced of a girl not being allowed to withdraw money by bank officials in Begusarai because she is wearing a hijab.
According to sources the video, which went viral on Monday, is of Begusarai’s UCO Bank branch at Mansur Chowk.
The video shows a hijab-clad girl being stopped by four bank employees and asked to remove her hijab.The girl was adamant on withdrawing money without removing her hijab.
The bank officials are seen repeatedly asking her to turn off her mobile phone camera.
Branch manager Ritesh Kumar said cashier Ravi Kumar had asked the girl to remove her veil only to confirm her identity. “There was no other motive behind it and absolutely nothing to do with the hijab row,” he said.
The girl is from a village in Mansurchak police station area. When TOI contacted her father, Mohammed Matin Alam, he said she had gone to the bank branch with him on February 10.
“She has a savings bank account with the branch. As on any other day, she filled the withdrawal slip and waited at the cash counter. However, when her turn came, the cashier asked her to remove the hijab. This infuriated her. It had never happened before,” Alam said, adding he, too, felt offended. Matin said his daughter is a Class XII student.
The girl recorded the incident and shared it on social media on Sunday.
In the video, the girl and her father are seen asking bank employees to show them a written notification that says the hijab is not allowed inside the bank.
After the controversy, UCO Bank issued a statement on Monday on Twitter: “Bank respects the religious sentiments of citizens and does not discriminate its esteemed customers (sic) on basis of caste or religion. Bank is checking the facts on this issue.”
Meanwhile, a letter written by Bihar State Minorities Commission chairman Prof Yunus Hussain Haqim to the UCO Bank MD asking the bank to take action against guilty staff and issue an advisory to all its branches not to repeat such incidents also went viral on social media on Monday.