Karnataka hijab row: Cops warn of action as protests continue

In Hassan district, students of LV Polytechnic college blocked roads after they were reportedly denied entry to the premises over their headscarves.

Chaos and confusion prevailed in several preuniversity colleges in Karnataka on Thursday after several Muslim students wearing of hijab or headscarves continued to be denied entry into the campuses.

Multiple protests were held across colleges in the districts of Chikmagalur, Udupi, Shivamogga, Gadag and Chitradurga, among others. (PTI)

Multiple protests were held across colleges in the districts of Chikmagalur, Udupi, Shivamogga, Gadag and Chitradurga, among others, even as police threatened to book a section of agitating students for wrongful restraint and get them debarred from their college.

In Hassan district, students of LV Polytechnic college blocked roads after they were reportedly denied entry to the premises over their headscarves.

“We will file a case against all of you,” Hassan city deputy superintendent of police Uday Bhaskar told students of LV Polytechnic college, as he directed his subordinates to charge the students under section 341 of Indian Penal Code, which prescribes punishment for wrongful restraint.

“Send a report to the principal and get them debarred,” he was heard saying in Kannada.

Undeterred by the warning, the students said they were ready to face any action. “Why should we block the road if we are allowed inside the college,” one of them was heard saying at the protest site.

In the area, the DSP was also seen roughing up a protester, who he said was an “outsider who was instigating the students”.

Speaking to HT later in the day, Bhaskar said: “When things are going out of way, we have to take (stern action) in order to protect the sanctity of the society, peace and order. We have to threaten sometimes.”

The officer said the situation was gradually turning tense and if the protests were allowed to continue, it may lead to law-and-order troubles or even “riots”. The protesting students are being “handled” accordingly, he added.

“The children, the way they were reacting to any of the government’s advisories, directions from the principal, it was very different. They hold mobile phones in their hand and then they get directions from somewhere. Whatever they speak and whatever the other person is conversing, they keep it live (on). They are being handled by somebody. That was observed yesterday,” the DSP said, refusing to provide further details.

The students or their parents could not be reached for a comment on the DSP’s remarks.

Likewise, Belagavi city police commissioner M B Boralingaiah alleged the role of outsiders in the protests.

After parents and students of Vijaya Institute of Para Medical Sciences got into an argument with the police outside the campus, Boralingaiah said a few “outsiders” had accompanied them.

“A few people who were not related (to the college) were here. Our personnel moved them away since they cannot crowd around here. The school will sort this out. The college administration will take action on the matter.”

“It was a tense atmosphere and they cannot crowd near the college, so we took this action,” he added.

The students of Government Girl’s Pre-University College began a protest on January 13, almost two weeks after college authorities issued an order banning the hijab inside classrooms.

The students approached Karnataka high court on January 29, but a row had already broken out across the southern state and several other parts of the country.

The petitioners have argued against a February 4 government order that states that schools and colleges will continue with the prescribed practice as was there at the beginning of the academic year. That is, if a school or college allowed hijab, then this practice would continue, leading to confusion and contest by the petitioners.

As protests for and against the hijab intensified in different parts of Karnataka and turned violent in some places, the government had declared a holiday for all high schools and colleges in the state for three days, from February 9, and it was subsequently extended up to February 16 for colleges.

The high court in its order last Thursday said that no religious attire will be allowed until a final verdict is pronounced in the case.