Jharkhand Minister offers job, flat to Bihar doctor after hijab row

Jharkhand Health Minister Irfan Ansari on Saturday (December 20, 2025) said he has offered a job with a ₹3 lakh monthly salary, a government flat, and a desired posting to a woman doctor from Bihar following the hijab controversy during the distribution of appointment letters.

Mr. Ansari alleged that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar tried to demean the hijab and the Muslim community by removing the veil of a woman.

"I have invited the woman doctor to Jharkhand and offered her a job with a ₹3 lakh monthly salary, a flat, a desired posting, and full security," he told reporters in Jamtara.

"The way a doctor and a woman was humiliated and treated with indecency by pulling her hijab is not merely an attack on one individual but a direct assault on human dignity, honour and the Constitution itself," he said.

The incident, a video clip of which has been circulated widely and sparked a major political row, took place on Monday (December 20, 2025) at the Chief Minister's Secretariat in Patna when Ayush doctors had gathered to receive their letters of appointment. When the woman came up for her letter, Mr. Kumar saw her hijab, said "what is this?", and then removed the veil.

Meanwhile, a social worker filed a police complaint against Mr. Kumar over the incident, an officer said on Saturday (December 20).

Mohammad Murtaza Alam, along with some villagers, submitted the complaint to the Itki police station on Thursday (December 18, 2025), he said.

Manish Kumar, officer-in-charge of Itki police station, told PTI that the complaint was filed based on a video purportedly showing Mr. Nitish Kumar pulling off the hijab of the woman doctor.