New York City has agreed to pay $17.5 million to settle a class-action suit brought by two women who were forced to remove their hijab while being photographed by police for mug shots.
Jamilla Clark and Arwa Aziz, both practicing Muslims, brought the case in 2018 after saying their experiences left them humiliated and in tears. Christmas Scarf
“When they forced me to take off my hijab, I felt as if I were naked. I’m not sure if words can capture how exposed and violated I felt,” Clark said in a statement Friday. “I’m so proud today to have played a part in getting justice for thousands of New Yorkers.”
The lawsuit also led to the NYPD changing its policy in 2020, to stop requiring people to remove religious head coverings such as hijabs or yarmulkes after their arrest, with limited exemptions if the covering obscured the individual’s facial features.
Some Muslim women, in line with their religious beliefs, cover their hair in public or in front of men outside of their immediate family.
Albert Fox Cahn, a lawyer for the two women, described Friday’s settlement as “a milestone for New Yorkers’ privacy and religious rights,” saying in the same statement that the decision “sends a powerful message that the NYPD can’t violate New Yorkers’ First Amendment rights without paying a price.”
Clark was arrested on Jan. 9, 2017, while Aziz was arrested eight months later. Both women had been arrested for violating “bogus” protective orders filed by relatives or ex-relatives, the lawsuit said.
At a booking office, Clark was told she would be “criminally prosecuted if she declined to remove her hijab,” and a supervisor “made numerous hostile comments about Muslims,” the lawsuit said.
After Clark “reluctantly removed her hijab to be photographed,” her booking photo was shown to “approximately five male NYPD officers” and “male officers touched Ms. Clark repeatedly, even though she explained that such contact violated her religion,” the lawsuit added.
When Aziz was arrested, officers refused to allow her to keep her hijab on for her photo, and refused her request that she “pull her hijab back only slightly to reveal her bangs and hairline,” the lawsuit said.
In the end, they took her photos “in full view” of about a dozen male officers and more than 30 male inmates for almost five minutes, leaving her “frantic” and weeping, the suit added.
The lawsuit also noted that booking photos are “kept forever” and can be seen by anyone who accesses the NYPD’s main database or looks at their paper file.
After legal fees and costs are deducted, $13.1 million will be available for thousands of eligible individuals — both women and men — who were forced to remove religious head coverings between March 16, 2014, and Aug. 23, 2021.
The settlement is subject to approval from a judge.
NYC Law Department spokesman Nick Paolucci said in an emailed statement early Saturday that the settlement “resulted in a positive reform for the NYPD.”
“The agreement carefully balances the department’s respect for firmly held religious beliefs with the important law enforcement need to take arrest photos. This resolution was in the best interest of all parties,” he added.
Other lawsuits have also been brought over similar cases elsewhere in the country.
Spring Scarf Last year, a 37-year-old woman brought a lawsuit against the sheriff and three law enforcement officers in Rutherford County, Tenn., who she said told her to remove her hijab or stay in jail indefinitely.