Three students from the government pre-university college in Udupi where the hijab controversy broke out have requested their college to postpone their practical examinations which were beginning on Monday, February 28. The girls' request was turned down and the students also alleged that the principal threatened them with a police complaint for approaching him.
"We requested the principal today once again to allow us to write the exam. For two months we did not have classes but we watched YouTube videos and prepared for the exam and we thought we would get to write the exams. The principal didn't allow it and said that if we stay there for five more minutes, he will file a police complaint," said Almas AH, one of the petitioners in the Karnataka High Court case over the hijab row. The principal of the college, Rudre Gowda, who has been facing criticism for how he handled the controversy over the hijab that broke out in his college, did not comment on the development.
The Karnataka High Court is yet to issue final orders after hearing the case for 11 days. In an interim order, however, the High Court had restrained students from wearing any religious garment in classrooms on campuses that have prescribed a dress code. This order also applies to degree colleges that have prescribed a uniform. In an interim order, however, the High Court had restrained students from wearing any religious garment in classrooms and on campuses that have prescribed a dress code. This order also applies to degree colleges that have prescribed a uniform. This order is being cited by many educational institutions to bar hijab-wearing students.
Meanwhile, the girls' requests to appear for their exams have so far been to no avail. The six girls from the Women's Government Pre-University College in Udupi had earlier written to the pre-university board on February 24 to postpone their practical examinations.
These girls are not the only ones being forced to skip their examinations. Over the last two weeks, scores of Muslim girls in Udupi's colleges have been barred from attending their classes and writing their examinations for insisting that they will wear the hijab. "When we came to the college gates to request access to the library or to request permission to write the exam, we have been sent back from the gates itself by police personnel," says Sania*, a degree student of the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) college. She was present with her father outside the college gates last week along with 20 of her friends but their request to enter the college was rejected. A police van has been stationed outside the college for the last two weeks, with police personnel preventing students from entering the college gates.
The incidents encapsulate the tense atmosphere around pre-university and degree colleges in Udupi, where police have been deployed outside the gates of most campuses. Muslim students in Dr G Shankar Government Women's First Grade College in Udupi, Government Pre-University College in Kundapura, Bhandarkar's College of Arts and Sciences in Kundapura, said that they have not attended classes or appeared for their exams since the state government's February 5 order was enforced. The order delegated the powers to decide the school uniform to the College Development Committees (CDC), which effectively led to a hijab ban in many colleges across Karnataka.
The girls have also come under the glare of the media with news crews regularly filming students being denied entry into colleges. One student, Aliya Assadi, was left distraught after reporters from Asianet Suvarna television channel filmed her family members with hidden cameras and aired it on February 19. An FIR was registered at the Malpe police station in Udupi over the issue on February 22.