India, Dec. 20 -- International Booker Prize 2025 winner Banu Mushtaq on Friday described Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's act of pulling down the hijab of a woman AYUSH practitioner during a government function as "deplorable", while reiterating her opposition to practices that compel women to cover their faces.

Mushtaq was speaking at a session titled 'Voices Behind the Heart Lamp: Stories of Muslim Women, Resilience and Resistance' at the Pune Lit Fest, held at the amphitheatre of Fergusson College as part of the Pune Book Festival. Young writer Vedant Agarwal was in conversation with her.

Referring to the recent incident in Bihar during the distribution of appointment letters, Mushtaq said she condemned both the practice of forci...