New York City will pay $17.5 million in compensation to Muslim women who were forced to remove their headscarves for mugshots at a police precinct, as announced in a lawsuit filed by Jamilla Clark and Arwa Aziz in 2018.

According to The New York Times, Nicholas Paolucci, the Director of Public Relations for New York City, stated that the city reached an agreement to pay $17.5 million to the Muslim women who were forced to remove their headscarves for mugshots by the police, under the lawsuit filed by Jamilla Clark and Arwa Aziz in 2018.

Paolucci mentioned that the agreement will strike a balance between the city’s respect for religious beliefs and the practices of law enforcement, and that the decision is in the best interest of all parties involved.

The settlement was announced on a website created for headscarf victims, stating that thousands of Muslim women who were subjected to this practice between March 16, 2014, and August 23, 2021, will share more than $13 million after administrative and legal expenses.

Court documents revealed that Jamilla Clark, who was detained for a minor offense in Manhattan in 2017, cried and pleaded to put her headscarf back on while being held in custody at the New York Police Department, but her request was denied.

In New York, officers have been allowed to keep beards or wear turbans for religious reasons since 2016.

In another lawsuit in 2018, New York City reached a $60,000 settlement with three Muslim women who were forced to remove their headscarves for mugshots, claiming that their religious rights were violated.

Following the lawsuit, the New York Police Department (NYPD) changed its policy in 2020 to allow religious individuals to be photographed with head coverings as long as their faces are not obscured.

Source: A News