By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
Krishnagar (W.B.): State Minority Affairs Minister Abdus Sattar said on 27th March that the Muslim women in the state were being treated as unequal citizens by society.
Inaugurating a hostel for Muslim college and university students in Krishnagar, the minister said residents of the state, particularly of Kolkata, were denying working Muslim women their basic rights. He said the government would provide them shelter by setting up hostels for them across the state.
He admitted that Muslim women in the state, like any other part of the country, were treated as unequal citizens by society. Despite getting good education and jobs, the Muslim working women were being deprived of their basic rights, the minister said. He, in fact, was referring to a social problem prevailing in the Muslim society there. The minister said educated Muslim girls often find it hard to stay at their home if they do not marry at an early age. More often than not, they leave their homes, under pressure. But another set of miseries wait for them outside too. Many house-owners do not want unmarried Muslim girls as tenants, the minister said.
The minister announced that first hostel for working Muslim women would come up in Kolkata. More than 100 working women will be accommodated there. The finance department is believed to have released funds for the proposed hostel. Meanwhile, to boost literacy in the community, the government has decided to set up around 500 junior high schools in 2008, the minister informed.