Bengaluru college asks Sikh girl to remove turban

An Amritdhari (baptised) Sikh girl was asked by her college here to remove her turban, following the Karnataka high court's interim order on the hijab row.

The Karnataka high court, in its recent interim order pending consideration of all petitions related to the hijab row, restrained all the students in the State from wearing saffron shawls, scarves, hijab and any religious flag within the classroom.

The College authorities said they informed the students about the Court order when the educational institution reopened on February 16.

However, the deputy director of pre-university education during his visit to the college earlier this week, on finding a group of girls in hijab, informed them about the Court order, asked them to abide by it.

These girls demanded that no girls including the Sikh should be allowed to wear religious symbols.

The college then got in touch with the Sikh girl's father informing him about the court order and the need to abide by it.

According to sources, the girl's family is said to be of the stand that their daughter will not remove the turban and is taking legal opinion, with high court and government order not mentioning about Sikh turban.

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 from February 9, they were however reopened on February 16, following the high court order.

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Hijab-clad students asked to leave college premises in Udupi

Trouble erupted at the MGM college in Udupi on Thursday when some girl students wearing hijabs were sent out of the institution premises by the college principal.

Postgraduate students who sought entry into the college wearing hijabs complained that they are not even allowed to attend the classes or enter the college premises which is in violation of the high court order.

The students said they could not appear for their examinations earlier due to the row over the hijab issue.

Girl students wearing hijab who came to attend degree classes also left the campus after the order from the principal.

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Girl students ask Karnataka govt to postpone exams

The six students of government pre-university college for women in Udupi, who approached the high court seeking to allow them to wear hijab and attend classes, have appealed to the pre-university board to postpone their practical examinations starting from February 28.

In their request, the students said they could not attend classes for the last two months after we were denied entry inside classrooms for wearing headscarves and needed more time to appear for the practical examinations.

A H Almas, one of the six petitioners, told reporters in Udupi Thursday that all the six students have requested the deputy director of pre-university education (DDPU) of Udupi district to consider postponing their practical examination.

"The DDPU told us that he will communicate the request to the authorities concerned in the PU board," she said.

Aliya Assadi, another petitioner in the hijab case, said they have been receiving threatening and abusive calls from unknown numbers after their demand for wearing hijab issue was politicised.