Karnataka hijab row: Management pushed students, refused to give answers, says student
India Today
As the hijab row spread across colleges in Karnataka, a student who was denied entry into college has said that management pushed protesting students and refused to give answers on the new uniform guidelines.
The Karnataka hijab row that started in a college in Udupi district has spilled over to other schools across the district. A government college in Kundapura asked girl students not to come to college wearing hijabs.
Based on new guidelines, Muslim students were asked not to come to college to attend classes. It has been reported that some Hindu groups allegedly forced boys to wear saffron shawls on the college campus in a response to Muslim girls insisting on wearing hijab inside classrooms.
Nazila, who is one of the students not allowed to enter the college premises, said the management pushed the girls and stopped them from entering the college.
"There were 28 girls. We asked our principal, but they did not give any answers. They are saying that the rule was introduced by the government. They are not seeing us like students," Nazila said, adding that they were admitted to college with hijabs earlier.
Nazila said the girls are very scared and they were not allowed to speak to their parents. We want education wearing the hijab, Nazila said.
A meeting was also conducted by the management along with the local MLA and the parents of the students. A girl student's parent was heard saying, “We didn't discriminate. We send our students during all the Hindu festivals. Why is it that you are discriminating against our students?”
On Tuesday, February 1, MLA Raghupathi Bhat made a statement to the media saying, "Students should not come inside the college campus wearing a hijab.”
