India: Muslim students accused of wearing hijab in Karnataka University College

The hijab issue once again came to the fore on Thursday in Karnataka as group of students from the University College staged a protest on the campus alleging that Muslim girl students were attending classes wearing the head scarf.

The protesting students, who were wearing the college uniform, claimed that 44 students were wearing hijab to college and some of them were doing so in classrooms too. They accused the college principal and authorities of having failed to address the issue so far, under pressure from a “powerful, local political leader”, and that the student’s union leader had also colluded with them.

The Karnataka High Court, on March 15, dismissed petitions filed by a group of Muslim students seeking permission to wear hijab.

The three-judge Bench of the court, consisting of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice Krishna S Dixit and Justice J M Khazi further, noted that the prescription of school uniform is only a reasonable restriction, Constitutionally permissible, which the students cannot object to.