On Monday, protests broke out outside Providence Girls Higher Secondary School in Kozhikode, where an 11th grade Muslim girl was forced to drop out because she was not allowed to wear a hijab to school.
The protests were mainly led by Muslim student organizations, notably SIO and Doctors Without Borders, and the student was forced to quit after the administration refused to change her stance on the hijab, despite the intervention of her parents and other family members.
Sources said protesters clashed with police outside the school. The school authorities had informed the girl that she had to follow the school uniform code and that she would not be allowed to wear the outfit. The girl later received a transfer certificate from the school.
The MSF has stated that since the school is supported by the government, the hijab should be allowed. The agency has also asked the authorities to issue a circular on this matter.
A similar controversy arose in Karnataka last December when six students were barred from a government school in Udupi district for wearing hijabs. As the controversy grew, students at a district college in Mangaluru made similar claims.
When schools imposed restrictions, more students in Karnataka spoke out. Muslim students claimed that their fundamental rights to education and religion were being violated. The incident sparked counter-protests led by fringe Hindu groups, and soon a group of students and others got into a hostile confrontation with those protesting the hijab ban.
In March of this year, the Karnataka High Court rejected a slew of petitions challenging the government order banning the wearing of hijabs in public schools and colleges. Wearing hijabs is not an “essential religious practice” in Islam, the three-member panel led by Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi said, adding that students cannot object to “reasonable restrictions” in the form of uniforms. The court upheld the state’s Feb. 5 “incompetent and apparently arbitrary” order, ruling that it did not violate any constitutional provisions.
The case is before the Supreme Court and on Wednesday, Karnataka Advocate General Prabhuling Navadgi told the highest court that hijab is restricted only in classrooms and not on campus or school buses or transportation.
“The right to wear a dress as part of expression cannot be given simply by asking for it. We have not banned the hijab outside, and there is no restriction on wearing it in school transportation. There are no restrictions, even on the school campus, and the nature of the restriction is only within the classroom,” Navadgi had said.
Read all Latest news India and Important news here