Won’t return to class without hijab, say petitioner girl students

The five students of Government Pre-University College for Girls in Udupi, who had approached the High Court of Karnataka challenging the ban on wearing hijab inside classrooms, said on Tuesday that they would not return to classes without wearing the hijab.

At a press conference in Udupi, the girls said their legal fight for “justice and their rights” would continue and insisted that wearing the hijab was an essential part of their religion.

Ayesha Hajeera Almaz, one of the six petitioners, said she felt “betrayed” by the verdict which said that wearing the hijab was not an essential religious practice. ‘’ ... we will consult our lawyers for legal advice,” she said.

“We won’t remove our hijab, but at the same time we want to continue our education,” Ms. Almaz said without making it clear how they would continue their education.

She said the college had blown the issue out of proportion. If the college had allowed the students to wear the hijab in the classrooms many girls would not have faced a situation of discontinuing their education due to the verdict of the court, she said, adding that the matter could have been settled in the college itself.

Another girl, Aliya Assadi, said the verdict had denied them their constitutional rights. “Right now, we have mentally collapsed and we don’t have any words,” she said. The other three petitioners — Shafa, Resham, and Muskaan Zainab — were present.

Meanwhile, the Government First Grade College, Car Street in Mangaluru, which had remained closed since March 5 following the controversy over Hijab issue, will resume offline classes from Wednesday. Bharath Pre-University College at Mastikatte in Ullal had also suspended the physical classes since February 25 due to the controversy. College principal Kalavathi P. told The Hindu that the preparatory examination for second-year pre-university students would be held from March 17 to 25. The annual examination for first-year students would start from March 29.