OAN’s Elizabeth Volberding
10:16 AM – Sunday, April 7, 2024
The New York Police Department (NYPD) has agreed to pay $17.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by two Muslim women who were told to take off their hijabs for mugshot photos.
Two Muslim women, identified as Jamilla Clark and Arwa Aziz, filed the class-action lawsuit in 2018 alleging that they felt exposed and humiliated when they were made to take off their hijabs following their arrest.
In the 2018 lawsuit, it was claimed that Arwa Aziz and Jamilla Clark’s privacy and religious freedom had been violated. More than 3,600 people, according to attorneys, are qualified for payouts under the agreement.
“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. “I’m so proud today to have played a part in getting justice for thousands of New Yorkers.”
Clark was arrested on January 9th, 2017, and on August 30th, 2017, Aziz was arrested.
According to the lawsuit, both women were taken into custody for breaking a false protective orders and the police threatened to bring charges against them if they did not take off their head coverings during their mugshots.
The lawsuit also states that Aziz felt traumatized when her photo was taken in front of over 30 male prisoners and 12 male police officers.
Initially, city officials justified the practice of making people take off their head coverings for mugshots by arguing that the regulation struck a compromise between respect for religious traditions and “the legitimate law enforcement need to take arrest photos.”
However, as part of the initial settlement of the lawsuit, the police department did change the policy in 2020 and declared that arrested individuals could continue to wear head coverings for mugshots, with certain restrictions, such as when the head covering obscures the subject’s facial characteristics.
Judge Analisa Torres of the federal court in Manhattan must approve the cash settlement, which was submitted on Friday.
The settlement “was in the best interest of all parties,” according to a statement released by Nick Paolucci, a spokesman for the city law department. It also led to a beneficial reform for the police department.
The two women’s lawyers claimed that the police regulation requiring the removal of head coverings infringed both their right to privacy and their freedom of religion.
The city’s law enforcement agency said in a statement to the New York Times that 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.”
It is anticipated that the funds will be distributed among thousands of plaintiffs who were detained from March 2014 until August 2021. According to attorneys, eligible people are guaranteed payouts ranging from $7,000 to $13,000.
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