Kozhikode: Kerala’s Muslim Educational Society (MES) had recently barred its students from covering their faces in any way while on campus. This move sparked a huge controversy across the country and the institution drew a lot of flak from the general public.
Now, it has come to light that the president of the institution, P A Fazal Gafoor has filed a complaint alleging that he has received threatening calls from an anonymous caller. According to Gafoor’s complaint, an unidentified called threatened him with dire consequences if he did not revoke the ban on face-covering attire.
“I received a phone call from a mobile on Friday from an international number, threatening to kill me. It was a male voice and he used very harsh, threatening and demeaning words on me,” said Gafoor in his complaint to the police.
“He seemed to have very agitated and furious over the issuance of circular banning face veil in MES institutions,” He added.
The police said that they have begun to investigate the matter and are trying to trace the caller, however, a case is yet to be registered.
It can be recalled that the Kozhikode-based MES, which runs more than 150 educational institutions and is among the country’s largest, had issued a circular banning its students from attending classes wearing any face-covering attire.
As the dress code triggered protests from several orthodox Muslim organisations and scholars, the MES maintained that covering women’s faces was a new trend and had not been in practice in the community in the state earlier.
