PESHAWAR, March 8: Woman members of the Jamaat-i-Islami in the NWFP Assembly have drafted a private-member bill to enact a law for penalising discrimination on the basis of hijab in educational and professional institutions and offices.

Six women MPAs of the party have drafted the “Prevention of discrimination on basis of hijab/dress bill, 2007” and are likely to submit it in the assembly secretariat.

“We have finalised the bill and will submit it in the secretariat in the next few days,” said MPA Shagufta Naz, who supervises drafting and submission of the bill. She said that the bill would be jointly tabled by the six woman MPAs.

“It will be our endeavour to pass the bill in the coming session of the assembly,” Ms Naz said, adding that it had been observed that in certain educational institutions and offices, females wearing hijabs or following complete Islamic dress code faced discrimination.The proposed bill states that whoever commits or abets an offence under this law should be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term, which may extend to simple imprisonment of three months or with fine up to Rs15,000, or with both.

According to the proposed bill, a copy of which is available with Dawn, discrimination means to compel a female against her will to do certain acts.

“Any person is said to commit the offence of discrimination under this act, who compels a female in any institution to remove her hijab; or compels/enforce any female to wear/design her dress against the teachings of Islam; or, refuses admission in an educational institution or employment in any institution on the basis of hijab/dress,” the bill states.

The draft states that nothing in this law will take away the right of any institution to prescribe a uniform for females within the limits of teaching of Islam or regional traditions. The proposed law defines hijab as “any means used by a female to protect herself from the glance of a ‘gher mehram’ and it includes burqa, chadar and scarf, etc.”

“An institution will include any institution where the females are admitted for studies or employed for services and includes all the schools, colleges, universities, whether in private or public sector, and all the concerns where the females get job whether they are commercial based or otherwise.”

The proposed law states that any person committing an offence under this law could be arrested without a warrant.

A police officer not below the rank of a DSP, accompanied by a union nazim/naib nazim and a government functionary not below the scale of 17 officer, and in case there are women inside the premises of an institution, a lady councillor or a female officer shall accompany, after having been duly authorised through a special or general order by the provincial government or union nazim upon information given to him in a written form by a complainant enter such place at any time.