Hijab row: Now, Aligarh college bans entry of students in religious attire
The directives came days after students of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) held a protest march on the campus to extend support to their peers in the southern state demanding their right to wear the hijab.
A college in Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh district has banned students from donning any attire that could be attributed to religion amid a raging controversy in Karnataka over restrictions imposed on Muslim girls wearing the hijab (a headscarf) to educational institutions.
According to a report by news agency ANI, DS College in Aligarh has banned the entry of students who are not dressed in the prescribed uniform. The college's principal, Dr Raj Kumar Verma, said,“We'll not allow students to enter the campus with covered faces. Students are not allowed to wear saffron stole or hijab on college premises."
Pictures tweeted by ANI showed a circular stating the same stuck on what appeared to be the walls of the college.
The directives came days after students of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) held a protest march on the campus to extend support to their peers in the southern state demanding their right to wear the hijab. They were seen carrying posters and raising slogans as they marched within the campus. A report in PTI said they had also issued a written statement describing the ban on hijab as an assault on their fundamental right.
Also read | Hijab, saffron scarves banned in Karnataka minority department-run institutions
“We have been compelled to lodge a protest when an incident took place in Karnataka in which a young girl, protesting against the ban, was hounded by a group of vandals. We salute the brave girls of Karnataka,” read the statement.
Meanwhile, in Karnataka, several Muslim students have continued to resist the ban on their entry in preuniversity colleges for wearing the hijab after the government reopened the educational institutions.
Protests were witnessed across colleges in the districts of Chikmagalur, Udupi, Shivamogga, Gadag and Chitradurga. As chaos prevailed, police also threatened to book a section of agitating students for wrongful restraint and get them debarred from their college.
A hearing on the issue is underway at the Karnataka high court. In its interim order, the court had last week restrained the students from wearing any religious attire to educational institutions until a final verdict is given.
