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People across India and Pakistan denounced Bihar’s Chief Minister Nitish Kumar after he pulled a muslim student’s niqab on Monday. Nusrat Parveen, a medical student, was receiving a certificate from the minister when he gestured for her to remove her veil and then proceeded to yank it down before she could respond.

Many public figures spoke out about how inappropriate Kumar’s actions were, including lyricist Javed Akhtar, who posted a statement on X decrying the incident.

Akhtar said that while he was principally opposed to the concept of parda, “it [did] not mean by any stretch of the imagination [he] can accept what Mr Nitish Kumar [had] done to a muslim lady doctor”. He added that he condemns it “in very strong words” and believes Parveen is owed “an unconditional apology” from the minister.

The poet, who is known for his attacks on Pakistan and his assertion that the Partition of India was a mistake, joins several people, including politicians and celebrities, who are outraged by the clear violation of a woman’s freedom in a country that seems less and less able to live up to the idea of secularism and multiculturalism enshrined in its constitution.

In response to Akhtar, Dewan Sachal, a Hindu and former provincial legislator from Sindh, recounted how the harassment of a woman led to a war in the Hindu text Mahabharata. He said Kumar should face jail time for harassing the medical student.

Not everyone was on the same side, though, and some in India felt the matter was ‘being blown out of proportion’. Sanjay Nishad, a provincial minister in the state of Uttar Pradesh, jovially told a reporter, “[Kumar] is a man too; they shouldn’t chase after him for this.” He went on to ask, “If this is what people do when he touches a niqab, what would’ve happened if he’d touched her somewhere else?”

When the reporter asked what he meant by that, Nishad clarified, “You are making such an issue out of him touching a niqab, what if he had touched her face, or his finger had strayed elsewhere, what would you have done [to him]?”

Reacting to Nishad’s state, actor Sanam Jung asked how he “thinks it’s okay to pull on a woman’s niqab when chooses to cover herself?” She added that the matter wasn’t about “opinions or arguments,” but about “basic respect”.

“No one has the right to touch her, control her body or decide how she should dress,” Jung said, adding, “Trying to excuse that kind of behaviour is just disgusting”.

While condemnation continues for both Kumar and Nishad, the fact that they felt comfortable doing what they did speaks volumes about the state of women, especially muslim women in India.

The trivialisation of the religious beliefs of a minority illustrates just how intolerant Indian society is becoming, and the few who stand up to it are the struts holding up the country’s social fabric. The question is, how long can they keep at it before succumbing to the hateful tides of society?