Mumbai: A day after several Muslim girls at the junior college (senior secondary) section of NG Acharya and DK Marathe College in Chembur were stopped from entering campus in burqa (veil) and hijab (headscarf), the junior college let these students take off their customary attire inside the college premises.
During the last few days, hijab-clad girls were barred from entering the campus after the government-aided junior college for the first time introduced a uniform for the Class 11 and 12 students. On Wednesday, a large number of students had staged a protest outside the institute after they were stopped from entering the premises and were asked to remove their veils outside.
Of 2366 students enrolled at the junior college section of NG Acharya and DK Marathe College 294 are Muslim girls.
While the institute has relented to the extent of letting the female students take off their veils in a washroom inside the premises, they still want them to adhere to the prescribed uniform, which consists of salwar, kameez and jacket. The students, on the other hand, continue to demand that they should also be allowed to wear a dupatta or scarf in addition to the prescribed dress code.
"We continued wearing our headscarves over the uniform on Thursday, but the teachers kept telling us to remove them. We will now write to the authorities to officially permit us to put on a dupatta with the uniform," said a Class 12 student.
However, the college has so far refused to budge. "We already gave relaxation in the uniform to these students for around one-and-a-half months. They need to abide by it," said Vidyagauri Lele, Principal, NG Acharya and DK Marathe College.
Meanwhile, Saif Mehmood Alam, a city-based Supreme Court lawyer, has issued a legal notice to the college over barring students from exercising their religious freedom. "A Muslim girl wearing Hijab has a right to do so under article 19 (a) of the Constitution of India, which allows her to wear what she likes. Not allowing them [in college] in Hijab is restraining them from their rights," read the notice.
"Our State had women like Fatima Shaikh and Savitribai Phule who advocated and fought for women's education... This cowardly step by your authority has put all of us Maharashtrians to shame," the notice further read.
