A government Pre-University College (PUC) has suspended 6 female Muslim students for flouting rules and wearing hijab on campus, contrary to the mandated uniform of the educational institute. The institute is located in Uppinangady town in the Dakshin Kannada district of Karnataka.
As per reports, the students were intimated about the Karnataka High Court and government order, prohibiting the wearing of the hijab and other non-essential religious attire in institutes with a mandated uniform.
Despite repeated warnings, the Muslim students refused to follow the rules. In order to avoid any unwarranted controversy, the Principal of Uppinangady PUC chaired a meeting with teachers and suspended the students for a period of 2 days.
#Karnatakahijabrow Six #Hijab #Muslim girl students have been suspended for a week by #Uppinangady first grade college in #DakshinaKannada. College says they were warned several times. But they didn’t relent. In order to maintain peace, they were suspended. #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/Jg9MeTHwAb
— Imran Khan (@KeypadGuerilla) June 2, 2022
While speaking about the matter, a teacher informed, “The girls have been attending classes with hijab. Some boys objected to the headscarf in the classroom. The principal consulted all the teachers and we decided to suspend them for two days so that the problem does not blow out of proportion. However, they will resume classes on Monday. We will provide remedial classes to the girls.”
Meanwhile, the Mangaluru College administration has also clamped down on 16 Hijabi students who insisted that they be allowed to take classes in their religious attire. Instead of giving in to their demands, the administration held a syndicate meeting and denied them entry into classes.
The students then went to the office of the District Commissioner, hoping that he would act against the college. Instead, he counselled the students to attend classes without hijab and adhere to the ruling of the Karnataka government and the Karnataka High Court.
Karnataka Hijab row and the test of essentiality in religion
The Karnataka Hijab row started out in January this year at a Pre-University College in Udupi where a group of 6 Muslim girls insisted that they be allowed to take classes in their hijab.
Given that uniforms were in existence at the said PU college since 1985, the school administration refused to relent to their religious diktat. Thereafter, the girls refused to enter classrooms and began holding protests within the premises of the college.
With the backing of Islamist outfits such as PFI and Campus Front of India, the ‘hijab movement’ spread to other schools and colleges in Karnataka. Leftist propaganda media outlets hopped on the bandwagon of ‘Islamophobia’ to defame India at an international level.
They cast aspersions about a ‘blanket ban on hijab in India’ whereas the dispute was only limited to the wearing of religious attire (hijab) in secular educational institutions. The hijab row witnessed the mobilization of Islamists and counter-protests by Hindu students, demanding the concept of uniformity in schools.
When the matter reached the Karnataka High Court, it ruled that Hijab is not an essential practice in Islam and that uniform is a reasonable restriction on the ‘Right to Religion.’
In a typical move for the news channel, NDTV tried to use Nikhat Zareen’s general opinion, about women’s liberty to wear clothes of their choice, to legitimize the demands of Muslim students to wear hijab in schools even though Court has already settled the issue with their ruling.
