Bengaluru: The ban on hijab and the row surrounding it, which first started in a college for girls in Udupi in coastal Karnataka, has started spreading to other colleges in the state.
On Wednesday, a few boys studying at a government college in Kundapur in Udupi district went to their campus draped in saffron shawls and asked Muslim students to remove their hijab. According to sources, 27 Muslim girls who study in the institute had been coming to the campus wearing hijab.
Kundapur MLA Halady Srinivas Shetty tried to cool the issue by trying to convince the parents of the Muslim students to let the girls come to the college without hijab but his attempts failed, said sources.
Meanwhile, in Bhadravathi of Shivamogga district, students of Sir MV Arts and Commerce College came to the campus wearing saffron towels and demanded that the college administration should ban hijab.
Earlier, a government college in Udupi had banned students from wearing hijab inside the classroom and seven Muslim girls were denied entry. They later approached the High Court.
The six students have been boycotting classes since the last week of December after being denied entry into the classroom after they refused to remove the hijab.
On Monday, the Government PU College for girls in Udupi warned of punitive action if the protesting students do not begin attending classes from Tuesday, without the hijab. “There was a police deployment on the campus. We were told that we could enter the classroom only if we removed the hijab. We sat inside the campus till 1. 40pm. Several lecturers tried to tell us to give up our fight and attend classes,” Almas, one of the students, was quoted in the media.
Incidentally, February 1 was celebrated as World Hijab Day.
