Karnataka hijab row: Students allowed entry into College campus, to be seated in separate classrooms

Kundapura, Feb 07: Students wearing hijab (Islamic headscarf) who were agitating outside Government PU College, Kundapura area of the Udupi district were allowed to enter the campus on Monday but will be seated in separate classrooms.

The management had decided to identify a separate classroom for Muslim girls who have been demanding that they be allowed to wear hijab in class.

Earlier today, Karnataka police arrested two people carrying 'lethal weapons' near the Government PU College in Kundapur, whereover wearing 'Hijab' is ongoing.

According to police, three others accused managed to flee. "Both arrested accused hail from Gangolli, a village near Kundapur. A case has been registered," said police.

Meanwhile, the state government has cracked the whip making uniforms mandatory for students attending classes in educational institutions.

In case a uniform is not prescribed by management committees, it has been ordered that students should wear dresses that go well with the idea of equality and unity, and does not disturb the social order, it said.

Citing verdicts by Supreme Court and various High Courts, the government said, asking students not to come to schools wearing 'headscarf' or covering their head, is not in violation of Article 25 of the Constitution, and after examining the rules framed under the Karnataka Education Act 1983, the order has been issued.

The order making uniform mandatory came, even as the government has already directed the educational institutions to follow existing uniform-related rules, citing the Karnataka Education Act and rules, until the Court comes out with its order in this regard.

There have been several instances during the last few days, especially in coastal Karnataka, where some Muslim girl students, turning up in hijab, were not being allowed into classes, and Hindu boys responding with saffron shawls, also being barred from classes.

The issue that initially began in January at a Government PU College in Udupi where six students who attended classes wearing headscarves in violation of the stipulated dress code were sent out, has spread to a few other colleges in the city and in nearby Kundapur and Byndoor.

There have also been reports of similar instances of students turning up at educational institutions with either hijab or saffron shawl in Ramdurg PU College in Belagavi and a college in Hassan, Chikkamagaluru and Shivamogga, and also a group of girls staging demonstration in Mysuru and Kalaburagi in favour of the hijab.