At a time when several government and private schools and colleges in Karnataka are following Islamophobic move of BJP government to ban hijab in educational institutions, an educational institute in Mysuru is taking a different approach.
According to a report in The Times of India, a private college in Mysuru city has cancelled its uniform rule to allow Muslim students to attend classes with the hijab after the students were refused to remove their hijab.
“Four students refused to attend classes without the hijab and were protesting, Deputy Director of Pre University, Mysuru, DK Srinivasa Murthy told the newspaper.
“Some organisations extended support to them. I visited the college today and held discussions with all. Meanwhile, the college announced that it is cancelling its uniform rule to allow the students to attend classes,” he added.
Meanwhile, Karnataka police registered cases against 15 Muslim girls of a government pre-university college in Tumakuru on charges of violating the prohibitory orders imposed under Section 144 of IPC.
More than 40 Muslim students at the Government Empress Junior PU college in Tumakuru had staged a protest by raising slogans against hijab ban when they were denied entry inside classrooms for wearing hijab Wednesday.
The FIR was registered after the principal filed a complaint with the police.
Though the police officials said the FIR was registered against students who were protesting against hijab ban, the FIR does not name any student.
Muslim students in Karnataka have been protesting the ban on hijab in educational institutions, saying the Islamophobic move of Karnataka government violates their religious freedom guaranteed under India’s constitution.
On February 10, a three-judge bench of the High Court barred the students in Karnataka from wearing “religious clothes” in schools and colleges until further orders. The Karnataka High Court Special Bench is hearing the Hijab case on a daily basis.
Muslim students, activists and Opposition leaders across country allege that these attacks on Muslim symbols and practices are part of the larger Hindutva agenda of imposing majoritarian values on country’s 200 million Muslims.
