A video clip of Javed Akhtar is being widely circulated online in which he argues that the practice of women covering their faces is inherently patriarchal, even when described as a matter of personal choice, because such choices are shaped by patriarchal social structures.
What's the claim?: The viral post claims that the clip shows Javed Akhtar seeming to defend Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, endorsing his act of pulling down a woman’s hijab and questioning why women need to cover their faces.
Some context: The claim began circulating after a video from a government event on 15 December showed Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar pulling down the hijab of a Muslim woman during an appointment letter distribution ceremony for doctors of alternative medicine in Patna.
The incident sparked sharp criticism and widespread condemnation across the country.
What's the truth?: The claim is false.
The video of Javed Akhtar being circulated online is not related to the 15 December hijab incident involving Nitish Kumar.
The video is from 29 November, at the SOA Bhubaneswar Literary Festival 2025, days before the controversy.
In fact, after the incident, Javed Akhtar publicly condemned Nitish Kumar’s actions and called on him to apologise unconditionally to the woman doctor.
What we found: We ran the keyframes from the viral clip through Google's reverse image search.
We found an extended version of the clip posted on the SOA Literary Festival's YouTube channel on 29 November.
We examined the entire video and found that Javed Akhtar did not mention Nitish Kumar anywhere during his speech, nor did he make any comment justifying the act of pulling down a woman’s hijab.
At the 46:00 minute mark, a woman asks a question about how a woman's act of covering her face makes her any less strong when he made the statement condemning the idea of women having to cover their faces.
At the 47:00 minute mark, Javed Akhtar responds to her question by making a general critique of patriarchal norms around women covering their faces.
Also, the clip is from an event before the controversy occurred.
We also found a post shared by Javed Akhtar on his official X, formerly Twitter account on 18 December, in which he condemned Nitish Kumar’s actions and called on him to apologise unconditionally to the woman doctor.
Conclusion: The viral post falsely links an unrelated, earlier video of Javed Akhtar to the hijab controversy and incorrectly portrays him as supporting Nitish Kumar.
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