The photographs of a woman on a beach in Nice, france, being forced to remove her burkini by four policemen has stirred uproar throughout the world. This controversial action by the policemen was taken to implement the ban on burkinis in Nice, which is based on extremely tenuous grounds. According to the ban, this type of clothing “overtly manifests adherence to a religion at a time when France and places of worship are the targets of terrorist attacks.” Working under principle of laïcité, a very strict form of secularism in which there is complete separation of church and state, France is increasingly turning over the liberal values that it is ostensibly upholding. It is not just in Nice that these types of bans operate, the whole of France is notorious for its legislation on banning head scarfs in schools. And the French public remains divisive over the issue of minorities, with some believing that their “French” way of life is under threat because of them. First, this whole debate needs to be viewed in the backdrop of the terrorist attacks that have been on the rise in France. Such steps could then be seen as a form of expression of the anger that the French have towards Muslims, and a desire to get rid of them. These feelings exist because most of the terrorist attacks have behind them a religious motive, albeit one that is highly misconstrued. However, such an approach reifies the same binaries that these terrorists want to create. After all, women wearing a particular form of clothing is in no way an affirmation of the extremist agenda. And painting entire Muslims communities with the same broad brush would only provide fuel to the propaganda of terrorist organisations such as the IS. Moreover, such steps run contrary to the principles of liberalism and, in fact, tare another form of policing women’s bodies and dictating to them what they can and cannot wear. This is exactly the reason why patriarchal practices are condemned by the liberal tradition as they deprive women of the freedom to act of their own will. Those who advocate forceful abolition of the veil justify their position by pointing towards the internalisation of patriarchal values by those who wear it. And while there is a certain degree of truth to this proposition, it cannot be used to sanction forceful unveiling of those women who wish to wear it. Rather, an environment should be created in which the earlier factors that made the women wear the veil no longer have their imposing power. Only an environment that is conducive to the realisation of freedom can effectively work towards the realisation of liberal values. Finally, the cultural imperialism underlying this whole issue cannot be ignored. Forcing a woman to undress is an expression of power, which has behind it a realisation of superiority. The history of such dialectic is important because that has informed the sensitivity of the debate. This notion of cultural superiority was used to justify the entire colonial exercise, which was fundamentally exploitative and caused a great deal of suffering to the colonised. Unveiling hence is recourse to that same notion of superiority, which is despised by many. It becomes an act that is all the more humiliating and engenders increasing bitterness. It is time for France to look inwards and understand the ramifications of its actions. *