As reported by news agency ANI, the Karnataka Minority Welfare Department issued an order on Thursday prohibiting students at government-run minority institutions from wearing hijab, scarfs, or saffron shawls.
The Karnataka High Court has in its interim order restrained all students, regardless of their religion or faith, from wearing saffron shawls, scarfs, hijab, religious flags, or the like within the classroom, states the circular issued by Major Manivannan P, secretary in the department of minority welfare, Hajj, and Wakf Department.
The directive issued by the Karnataka Minority Welfare Department says, “The aforementioned High Court judgment applies to minority welfare department residential schools, colleges, and Maulana Azad Model English Medium institutions. Wearing saffron shawls, scarves, hijab, or any other religious flags is prohibited at schools and colleges, as well as Maulana Azad Model English Medium schools, which are part of the minority welfare department.”
The Karnataka High Court issued an order on the 10th of this month prohibiting all students from going to educational institutions in any religious garbs. The order reads, “Pending consideration of all these petitions, we restrain all the students regardless of their religion or faith from wearing saffron shawls (Bhagwa), scarfs, hijab, religious flags, or the like within the classroom, until further orders.”
The order states that it is to be followed by such institutions where there is uniform dress code rules.
This directive comes a day after state Higher Education Minister CN Ashwathnarayan stated the High Court’s interim judgment didn’t apply to degree college students.
As the judicial proceedings continue, there have been multiple incidents of people defying the court’s ruling and insisting on wearing hijab/burqa to schools and colleges.
The hijab question, which arose at a pre-university school in Karnataka, has spread to several districts and even other states. The controversy erupted when some Muslim girl students of PU college in Udupi insisted on wearing hijab in classrooms. The college administration denied them entry to the classes, citing that they were not allowed to wear anything other than the institutions prescribed uniform in the classrooms.