Udupi: These protest of students at Karnataka for wearing hijab to class is spreading to other colleges as well. On February 5 around 40 Muslim boys sat in protest against this.
This morning around 40 women students wearing the hijab stood at the gates of the Bhandarkars Arts and Science Degree College in Kundapur, a coastal town in Udupi district of Karnataka, as the staff refused to let them in unless they took off their headscarves. They missed their classes for the second day.
The students, all between 18 and 20 years, demanded to know why the administration had banned the hijab when the rules allow it.
As per the instruction manual of the college there is no such rule that students cannot wear hijab has been mentioned. Manual reads as, “Girl students are permitted to wear the scarf inside the campus, however the colour of the scarf should match with the dupatta, and no student is allowed to wear any other cloth inside the campus including the college canteen”.
The principal says that he wants to preserve harmony at college. He said, “I am a government employee. I will have to follow all the instructions of the government. I was told that some students will enter the college wearing saffron shawls, and if harmony is disturbed in the name of religion, the principal will be held responsible.”
Some 40 Muslim boys also sat outside the college and protested in solidarity with the girls.
A similar incident happened yesterday as well. Another college in Kundapur saw identical scenes when a group of hijab-wearing girls stood outside the gates for six hours. The Junior PU Government College had allowed hijabs in class until two days ago, the girls complained.
The trouble started when a large group of boys showed up in college wearing saffron shawls on Wednesday to counter the hijab. To avoid communal tension, the college administration decided to ask the women to attend classes without the hijab.
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