French Muslim student in limelight over headscarf
May 24: Maryam Pougetoux, a student at one of France's top universities has found herself at the centre of a media storm after she appeared in a documentary wearing a headscarf.
She had appeared in the film to talk about student protests in the country, which have been ongoing since April this year.
The student activist is the president of the student union at Paris-Sorbonne IV University in the French capital.
It was not her thoughts on the protests that drew controversy, instead, it was the headscarf she wore while being filmed.
Since the interview, she has been criticised by French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb, who said the appearance was "shocking" and accused Pougetoux of wanting to proselytise her religion.
French Equality Minister Marlene Schiappa also weighed in, calling Pougetoux's choice of headwear a "manifestation of political Islam".
The student defended her decision to wear the scarf in an interview with Buzzfeed, in which she said her headscarf had "no political function" and that her religion did not affect her ability to perform her duties as the union president.
"When I defend students, I do not ask myself about their skin colour, their sexual orientation, their philosophy of life," she told the news outlet.
The coverage has sparked intense debate in France, which has, in the past decade and a half, witnessed several major controversies over what Muslim women wear.
In 2004, legislators passed a law banning the display of religious symbols in schools, which included the headscarf. University students, however, are still allowed to wear headscarves.
In 2010, the country introduced a ban on the face covering worn by a small minority of Muslim women, known as the niqab.
Later in 2016, an image of French police officers in southern France asking a Muslim woman to remove a burkini swimsuit, which covers much of the body and hair went viral.
The officials were acting to enforce a locally implemented ban on the dress but also ended up targeting women who were deemed to be covering excessively.
France's highest administrative court struck down the bans, declaring them a violation of "fundamental liberties".
Advocates of restrictions on Muslim religious clothing say they are ensuring the separation of religious and public life or protecting the French brand of secularism, which is known as Laicite.
However, Muslim civil liberties activists say the restrictions are influenced by prejudice towards Muslims and other communities.
"Maryam Pougetoux has again showed that France has a deep problem with its own minorities and an even bigger one if they dare to speak in public," said activist Yasser Louati.
"Thanks to this controversy, the whole country forgot why she spoke in the first place and the mobilised the students she represented," he added.
He went on to say the controversy would not be the last to involve the headscarf.
courtesy : www.aljazeera.com
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BharatPe fraud case: Delhi HC quashes lookout circular against Ashneer Grover, wife
New Delhi, Nov 12: The Delhi High Court has ordered cancellation of a lookout circular (LOC) issued against Ashneer Grover, the former MD of payment app BharatPe, and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, noting that the FIR lodged against them over allegations of cheating and forgery has already been quashed.
Justice Sanjeev Narula passed the order on Monday after the court was informed that another bench of the high court quashed the FIR on the same day.
The FIR was quashed by Justice Chandra Dhari Singh after considering a plea moved by the Grovers stating that they have arrived at a settlement with the fintech company.
In his order, Justice Narula said, "Although the copy of the order (quashing the FIR) is not available as of now, the aforenoted fact is not disputed by the counsel for the parties.
"In light of the fact that the underlying FIR has been quashed, the LOC issued by respondent No. 3 (Bureau of Immigration), in the opinion of the court, will not survive."
The LOC was issued by the Bureau of Immigration at the instance of Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in view of the investigation against the Grovers in the cheating and forgery FIR.
The court was hearing a plea moved by Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover seeking quashing of the LOC issued against them in connection with the investigation into the cheating and forgery case.
"Accordingly, the present petitions are disposed of with a direction to the respondents to cancel the LOC against the petitioners in their records," the court noted.
Earlier, the Grovers claimed that they were informed about the LOC for the first time when they were detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on November 16, 2023, while they were scheduled to travel to the US.
After being detained, they were informed that the LOC was operational from November 6, 2023.
In May last year, the EOW filed an FIR against Grover, his wife Madhuri, and others under eight sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 467 and 468 (forgery), and 471 (using forged documents as genuine) for an alleged Rs 81 crore fraud after a complaint was lodged by BhartPe, the fintech unicorn.
In its complaint, BharatPe alleged that Grover and his family caused damages to the tune of Rs 81.3 crore through illegitimate payments to bogus human resource consultants, inflated and undue payments through pass-through vendors connected to the accused, sham transactions in input tax credit and payment of penalty to GST authorities, illegal payment to travel agencies, forged invoices by Madhuri, and destruction of evidence.
Madhuri was the head of controls at BharatPe before she was fired in 2022 after a forensic audit revealed several irregularities.
Subsequently, Grover resigned as the chief executive officer of the fintech firm in March 2022.
