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Karnataka: Amid hijab row, Bengaluru college asks Sikh girl not to come in turban
However, according to reports, her family has taken the stand that she will not stop sporting her turban while on campus.
Even as Karnataka continues to witness protests against students not being allowed to attend classes in hijab, after an interim order of the high court restrained all students from wearing religious attire in educational institutes, a Sikh girl, who wears turban, was allegedly asked by her Bengaluru-based college to not wear it while on campus.
According to reports, the pre-university (PU) college informed its students about the high court’s order on February 16, after it reopened. However, earlier this week, the institute’s deputy director found that some girls were still wearing hijab, and directed them to abide by the order. On this, they demanded that no student, including Sikhs, be allowed to wear religious symbols while on the campus.
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Though the college authorities, subsequently, informed the girl’s family she needs to follow the order, the family, according to reports, has taken the stand she will not take off her turban. They are also said to be seeking legal opinion as, according to them, the order does not mention anything about the Sikh turban.
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The incident comes at a time when a 3-judge bench of the Karnataka high court, headed by chief justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, is hearing petitions filed by six female students of an Udupi-based college against not being allowed to attend lectures in hijab. The six started waring the Islamic headgear in December last year, prompting a counter protest from some of their classmates, who started coming wearing saffron shawls and scarves.
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The pro and anti-h protests soon spread to other colleges in the city, as well as the state, prompting the Karnataka government to intervene and order students to only wear uniforms. On February 10, the high court passed the interim order barring all students from coming for classes in anything except their uniforms.
(With PTI inputs)
