Photo: Jamila Clark and Arva Aziz

A New York District Court has ordered police officers to pay $17.5 million in damages for forcibly removing the hijabs of arrested Muslim women.

The administration of New York City has signed an agreement to settle a lawsuit brought by two Muslim women against the NYPD's policy of removing headscarves during arrests, writes Islam News, citing Jurist.org.

The two women are appealing the police department's actions to Judge Analiza Torres of the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York. The court ordered the city administration to pay compensation in the amount of 17.5 million dollars. However, the city administration did not officially apologize for removing Muslim women's hijabs, but the court ordered the police department to change its policy of removing Muslim women's headscarves during arrests and to pay compensation.

The plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit in 2018. Since the lawsuit was a class action, all Muslim women affected by the discriminatory policy were entitled to receive up to $13,000 in moral damages.

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