Muhammad Abul Bashar:
An organization of veiled women's society in Barisal division has held a rally demanding that identity verification be done through fingerprints, not through face-to-face photo verification. The rally was organized in front of the Divisional Election Commission office in Barisal division on Wednesday, February 26. At the rally, veiled women said that veiled women are victims of discrimination just because they wear full veils. For the past 16 years, numerous veiled women have been denied citizenship. They are also being deprived in the field of education. They are being forced to use a stranger's name for identity verification. Instead of face-to-face, they demanded that identity be verified through fingerprints.
The veiled women said that for the past 16 years, some former officials of the National Election Commission have deprived veiled women of their civil rights on the pretext of not removing their face masks, causing them to suffer greatly. Many veiled women have been financially deprived of their citizenship without medical treatment. As a result, veiled women are dying and are dying, but they cannot sell the land they inherited without an NID. However, if they could sell the property, they could have borne the medical expenses. Many veiled women's houses have been burnt in accidents, but they cannot receive relief without an NID. Many widowed or divorced veiled women are unable to pay rent or enroll their children in school due to the lack of an NID. They cannot earn a living by doing any job with a veil.
The suffering that some former officials of the National Election Commission have caused to veiled women over the past 16 years cannot be described in detail. Veiled women say that education is a fundamental right. Veiled women are being deprived of this right on the pretext of covering their faces. Veiled women will either get an education if they are not veiled or they will not get one. For example, outdated methods like matching faces and photos are used to verify identity in examination halls in educational institutions. In this case, incidents of veiling are occurring when a stranger repeatedly sees a picture of a veiled woman's face.
In many cases, male teachers and male staff are used to match the face and picture of the veiled woman. The veiled woman is being told, "How will I recognize you if you don't show your face?" However, apart from showing your face, there are many more modern and accurate methods of identity verification. Representatives of veiled women say that when a woman takes a picture, she commits two sins. One is the sin of taking a picture, and the other is the sin of being naked. Again, the more strange men see that picture later, the sin of being naked will increase. Even after death, the sin of being naked will continue because of that picture. Veiled women want to escape that sin. But currently, the state is forcing veiled women to commit sins by withholding their basic rights, which is a violation of their religious or moral rights.
. Again, a veiled woman does not want to show her face to anyone, it is her right to privacy. Therefore, forcing her to show her face is a violation of her right to privacy. In other words, the demand of veiled women to obtain basic rights by fully covering herself falls not only under religious rights, but also under the right to privacy. Therefore, this demand of veiled women is included in human rights and constitutional rights from both sides. The veiled women said that the main goal of the prison in July-August was to establish a society without discrimination.
We want an end to the discrimination that has been faced against these two women for the past 16 years simply because they are wearing full-face veils. NIDs should be issued immediately, while preserving the religious rights and privacy of veiled women.
In addition, in the education sector, arrangements should be made for identity verification while preserving the religious and privacy rights of veiled women. Veiled women say that people's facial expressions change. People's facial expressions change with time and circumstances. This proves that a photograph is not a reliable means of identity verification. Yet, veiled women are being deprived of citizenship in the name of that image. Veiled women are also being denied citizenship in the education sector. In addition, identification based on photos and faces is a corruption-friendly method, while fingerprint identification is an anti-corruption method. For example, earlier, identity verification was done in banks based on photos and faces, but then fraud such as borrowing multiple identities of one person by changing their face occurred.
To prevent this fraud, fingerprint verification has been made mandatory in banks at the earliest. Incidents like creating multiple NIDs for a person by comparing their photo and face to verify their identity have occurred. The problem of double NID in writing has also been eliminated through fingerprint verification. Once again, about 2.5 lakh Rohingyas migrated abroad using Bangladeshi passports, basing their facial resemblance on the similarity with Bangladeshis, but whenever their fingerprints start to differ, the fraud of the Rohingyas is caught and the problem is solved. The problem of passports being cut off by comparing their photos has been solved through fingerprint verification in e-passport. Again, many dishonest students use facial resemblance to give proxies in exams, a corruption that can only be solved by fingerprint verification. Again, as criminals change their appearance repeatedly, it becomes difficult for the law enforcement agencies to catch the crime by matching their faces and photos.
