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Burka shields thieves
MUMBAI: Women wearing the burka and other face-concealing veils could be banned from jewellery stores in a west Indian city after a spate of thefts involving burka-clad customers.More than a dozen thefts have occurred in jewellery shops in Pune, Maharashtra state, in the past two months, with at least three cases of women wearing burkas spotted by surveillance cameras as they stole gold ornaments. "Police could not find any clue about the women's identity because their faces were covered," said Fatehchand Ranka, from the Maharashtra Jewellers Association. Pune's jewellers say they have written to the authorities asking for permission to stop serving customers who refuse to show their faces to surveillance cameras from January 1. But the move has angered a section of India's Muslim community, which says the attempt to profile customers on the basis of their attire is an attack on their freedom of religion. Posted by: .com 2006-12-29 |
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