In the latest development in Hijab row, five Muslim girl students of the university college at Hampankatta in the city have requested the college administration to issue transfer certificates to enable them to join other colleges.
The college had prohibited wearing of hijab in classrooms which had triggered protest from Muslim students.
Recently, Mangalore University vice chancellor P S Yadapadithaya had announced that the varsity will make special arrangements for Muslim girls to join other colleges, if they are not willing to go by the High Court direction asking students to stick to the dress code prescribed by respective institutions.
College Principal Anasuya Rai said the five students had approached her with the request for TC so that they could join other colleges which permitted hijab.
As the letters were found incomplete, the students were asked to produce a fresh letter with corrections. The students have not yet come back with the new letters, Rai said.
All undergraduate classes have been shifted to online as evaluation work is going on in the campus. Except for a few students, all the 44 Muslim girls studying for UG courses are attending classes, the principal said.
Hijab protests in Karnataka took place in January-February this year when some students of Government Girls PU college in the Udupi district of the state alleged that they had been barred from attending classes. During the protests, some students claimed they were denied entry into the college for wearing hijab.
Stating that wearing the hijab is not an essential religious practice in Islam and freedom of religion under Article 25 of the Constitution is subject to reasonable restrictions, a full bench of the Karnataka High Court on March 16 dismissed a batch of petitions filed by Muslim girls studying in pre-university colleges in Udupi seeking the right to wear hijabs in classrooms.
The Court also upheld an order issued on February 5 by the state, which suggested that wearing hijabs can be restricted in government colleges where uniforms are prescribed and ruled that "prescription of a school uniform" is a "reasonable restriction" that is "Constitutionally permissible".
