Nobody had any doubt that #burkiniban was a violation of Liberty enshrined in the French Constitution, except for some far right white supremacist groups & a few misguided atheists.

Now the top court in France has suspended it in the grounds of serious breach of fundamental rights.

Credit : Reuters

France’s highest administrative court has suspended a ban on full-body “burkini” swimsuits that was imposed in a town on the Mediterranean coast.
The ban in Villeneuve-Loubet “seriously and clearly illegally breached fundamental freedoms”, it found.
The ruling could set a precedent for up to 30 other towns that imposed bans on their beaches, chiefly on the Riviera.
At least three mayors have already said they will keep the bans in their towns.
The court will make a final decision later on the bans’ legality.
Correspondents in France say the court’s decision means that all the bans on burkinis are likely now to be overturned,
But town hall authorities in Nice and Frejus, as well as in the Corsican village of Sisco, have vowed to keep the bans in place.

We need to find ways  with in the ideals of French Constitution to enforce the Muslim women’s right not to be coerced to wear Mullah prescribed attire.

Those ways should include dialogue and debates with Muslims and education of children in schools about how patriarchal codes severely restrict their future. It can also include study of human rights, specifically the rights of women and children and widely publicised child line telephone numbers to detect and punish  forced dress code

Muslim women students should be encouraged to study and get good jobs so that they can stand on their feet and voice their own opinion. Muslim women’s organisations who are liberal in nature should be actively encouraged to propagate against patriarchal shackles in the name of Islam. Such a liberal Muslim group can go to court to ask for a ban of many regressive practices with in Islam.

Coercion by a Govt which has very little legitimacy among Muslim citizens of France  can only have deleterious effect. As the victory at Haji Ali shrine showed, a movement with Liberal values from within the Muslim community, actively encouraged by the civil society may be the answer to achieve the aim of women’s empowerment among Islamic communities.