After a near week-long hijab row forced holiday, high schools in Karnataka reopened on Monday amid prohibitory orders in Udupi, which witnessed violence and tension last week, and sensitive areas of Dakshina Kannada and Bengaluru. Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code has been imposed in sensitive areas in the said districts.
In Udupi district, all the schools that reopened witnessed normal attendance, Education Department sources said. Muslim girl students who reached the school campuses wearing hijab and removed them before entering classes. Examinations scheduled for the day are also going on in the institutions.
The district administration has imposed Section 144 of CrPC around 200-metre radius of all high schools in the district from Monday to Saturday to maintain peace. Udupi tehsildar Pradeep Kurudekar, who visited a few schools, said Muslim students were abiding by the high court's interim order by removing hijabs before entering classes. There were no reports of Hindu students turning up in saffron shawls. The police have been posted in Udupi town and near the schools to maintain law and order and to avoid any untoward incident.
In a statement, Udupi Pejawar mutt chief Swami Vishwaprasanna Teertha appealed to all sections to avoid chaos and maintain peace. In some government schools in Koppal and Kalaburagi districts, students appeared in classrooms wearing hijab as well as burqa, sources in the Education Department said. However, officials who reached the spot later asked the students to remove them.
In Shivamogga, a few students insisted that they should be allowed to go inside the schools wearing burqa despite instruction by the school authorities not to enter the premises wearing either hijab or burqa as the high court has restrained them from doing so. They were not allowed entry into the school citing the HC order, even as the girls feigned ignorance about the court order. Subsequently, there was an argument between teachers and students.
On Sunday, ahead of reopening of schools, state Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai expressed confidence that peace and normalcy will prevail. He had also said a decision regarding reopening of Pre-University and Degree colleges will be taken after assessing the situation.
Allow hijab matching with school uniform: Students
Challenging the government order restricting the use of any cloth that can disturb peace, harmony and, law and order, the girls who petitioned in favour of hijab requested the Karnataka High Court on Monday to allow them to wear hijab of the colour of the school uniform. The girls made the plea to the full bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice JM Khazi and Justice Krishna M Dixit. “I am not only challenging the government order, but also asking for a positive mandate for allowing me to wear a headscarf of the same colour of the uniform,” advocate Devadatt Kamat, appearing on behalf of the girls of the government pre-university college in Udupi, told the bench. Kamat also claimed that the central schools permit Muslim girls to wear headscarves of the school uniform colour and the same could be done here. According to him, headscarves are an essential religious practice, and restricting its use was violating Article 25 of the Indian Constitution.
Kamat argued where was the law as mandated under Article 25 regulating or restricting any economic, financial, political or other secular activity. The advocate for the Muslim girls also said the College Development Committee (CDC) comprising an MLA has been authorised by the government to decide the uniform. “A CDC comprising an MLA is an extra-constitutional authority and a third party to decide what to wear. The government has assigned its responsibility to this third party,” Kamat argued.
