The significance of hijab for a Muslim woman has been emphasized in Quran and many of the Islamic traditions. According to Imam Khomeini and all fuqaha (jurists) of Shia, hijab must be preserved for Muslim women before the strangers. The Quran instructs Muslim women to dress modestly. This type of modest clothing is generally defined as covering everything except the face, hands up to wrists, and feet. But the form of covering depends on social and individual preferences.
Regarding the second part of your question we have to say that Imam Khomeini used to highlight women’s dignity in all aspects of life. Any immoderate-extreme behavior towards women is totally rejected in Imam’s thought and ideology. He believed that even those who violate the rules and are against the social norms must be treated based on the law. Any kind of violence and aggression he emphasized should be vanished from the treatment of law executors and its place should be given to promoting the culture of ‘enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong!’