The government of the European country Italy is preparing to ban burqa and niqab in the entire country. Italy’s ruling party led by Prime Minister Georgia Meloni has introduced a bill in the country’s Parliament on Wednesday (October 8, 2025) to ban women of the Muslim community from covering their faces and bodies with burqas and niqabs in all public places across the country.

Italy’s ruling party Brothers of Italy has called the move part of a broader proposal to deal with Islamic separatism. According to Reuters report, this bill, introduced by three MPs from PM Georgia Meloni’s party, demands a ban on face-covering clothes in all public places, schools, universities, shops and offices across the country.

Religious freedom is important but Italy’s Constitution should be respected – Delmastro

MP Andia Delmastro, who is considered one of the planners of this bill, shared information about this bill on the social media platform Facebook on Wednesday (October 8, 2025). Regarding this bill, he said, ‘Religious freedom is sacred, but it must be exercised openly with full respect for our Constitution and the principles of Italy.’

The preamble of this bill also states, ‘The spread of Islamic fundamentalism clearly serves to strengthen the roots of Islamic terrorism and this bill also emphasizes the need to combat religious extremism and hatred on the basis of religion.

Heavy fine for violation, proposal for strict punishment for forced marriage

Under this proposed bill, a heavy fine ranging from 300 Euros (approximately 30,959 Indian Rupees) to 3000 Euros (approximately 3,09,588 Indian Rupees) will be imposed on the violators. Apart from this, it has also been proposed in this bill to make the punishment more stringent in cases of virginity testing and forced marriage under religious pressure.

Also proposed to control the funding of mosques

According to the report of Financial Times, in this bill it has also been proposed to control the funding of mosques in Italy. Under this, heavy fine will be imposed on all those Muslim organizations which are found taking donations from such people or organizations who are active in propagating ideologies contrary to the protection of fundamental freedoms and security of the country.

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