Only a section of Muslim girls attended classes and appeared for internal examination without the hijab in government colleges in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts on Wednesday, a day after the High Court of Karnataka held that wearing a hijab (headscarf) is not essential part of religion and they have to stick to the prescribed uniform.
Sources said that of the 17 Muslim girl students at the Government First Grade College in Kaup in Udupi district, four attended the internal examination without wearing the hijab. Another nine students, who had also turned up at the college, refused to remove the hijab to appear for the examination. The remaining did not turn up at the college at all.
At the Government PU College in Kundapur, two first-year students attended classes without the hijab while 11 Muslim students did not turn up at the college.
At the Government PU College for Girls in Udupi, where the hijab row originated, six students, including five who took the issue to the High Court, did not turn up for classes. College principal Rudre Gowda said that physical classes will be held till March 18. The preparatory examination for II PU students will commence on March 21, he said.
In Mangaluru, two of the three Muslim post-graduate girl students turned up for physical classes at the P. Dayanand Pai and P. Satish Pai Government First Grade College without the hijab. The college resumed physical classes only for PG students on March 16 after remaining closed since March 5 following the row over hijab.
Principal Rajeshekar Hebbar said the college will resume internal examination for UG students on Thursday. The examinations had been postponed on March 5 following the controversy over the dress code. The college has 2,382 students of which 33 are Muslim girls. Mr. Hebbar said students have been told to comply with the High Court order and enter the classroom as per the dress code prescribed by the College Development Committee. A separate room has been earmarked for students to remove the hijab before entering classrooms.
At Shivamogga, 19 students of Kamala Nehru First Grade College returned home without taking the internal test on Wednesday. The students, who had reached the college wearing the hijab, were not allowed to enter the premises. The students also refused to remove the hijab. Speaking to the media, the girls said that they too had taken admission to the college by paying fees and should be allowed to take the test.
A couple of students of the Government First Grade College for Women in Hassan attended classes on the day, as it was a Wednesday, no uniform day. “Except for Wednesdays, we are not allowed to attend classes, unless we remove the hijab. All these years, we attended the classes with hijab. All of a sudden, it would be difficult to change,” said a girl student. Her classmate said that her parents would not allow her to go to college if she had to remove the hijab before entering the classroom.
Bhatkal bandh
Meanwhile, Bhatkal town in Uttara Kannada district observed partial bandh on Wednesday as some traders did not open shops to express their dissatisfaction with the verdict of the Karnataka High Court in the hijab case. Shops on the Udupi-Karwar NH 66, Bombay Bazaar, Chor Bazaar, and other areas remained shut. As soon as the court delivered its verdict on Tuesday, some traders in Bhatkal had shut their shops.
