Rayana Khasi, a 23-year-old Muslim woman who is a qualified aeronautical engineer, has refused to wear the burqa, despite constant threats to her life.
Rayana, a resident of Kasargode in the Indian state of Kerala, 600 km from state capital Thiruvananthapuram, has handed over the threat letters she received to the police.
Rayana has the full support of her family. She has had police protection since the middle of August, thanks to a court order, after increased threats in the last two months.
“Is it not my right to decide what I should wear? I studied in Chennai and now I am preparing for my civil service examinations. It is for convenience that I use jeans and I have covered everything that has to be fully covered,” a peeved Rayana told the Indo-Asian news service (IANS).
She spoke to IANS just after a visit to the local police station to hand over two anonymous letters saying she would be killed if she continued to defy the burqa.
Trouble started after her return from Chennai around this time last year. She was in Chennai for four and a half years to complete her aeronautical engineering course and then stayed on for six more months for civil services exam coaching.
Whne she came back, first there were polite pleas from her relatives to wear the traditional Muslim attire.
“Then my neighbours started advising me and since then there have had anonymous callers on my mobile telling me they will have no choice but to kill me because I continue to defy the burqa,” said Rayana.
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I also received the same threat letter in Delhi which Rayana received in Kerala. The letter received by me was also from Kerala. I showed the letter to the local police but they said they do not know Persian therefore they cannot read them. I was asked to get the letter translated into English or Hindi. I showed them one letter which was in English saying that you will feed the hell fire if you do not come to the Straight Path. It is an organisation with the name Straight Path based in Kasargod, Kerala, which has been sending these letters. I also showed the same letter to the anchor of NDTV in New Delhi during a talk show to which I had been invited. The topic of the show was Delhi blasts of 2008. But the anchor did not allow me to speak. It is the media also which is terrorising people perhaps at the behest of their masters.
A.L.Rawal