Hijab Issues: Karnataka college reopening from tomorrow, imposes Section 144 in 9 districts

Hijab Issues: Owing to the hijab row, section 144 has been imposed in Karnataka’s Tumakuru district from 6 am on 16th February ahead of Pre-university colleges reopening. The order is applicable in 200 meters of PU colleges, degree and other colleges, said YS Patil, Deputy commissioner, Tumakuru. It will remain in force until further orders. Hijab Issues: Karnataka college reopening from tomorrow, imposes Section 144 in 9 districts.

With this, such orders have been imposed in as many as 9 districts. Section 144 has been imposed in Udipi, Bagalkot, Bengaluru, Chikkaballapura, Gadag, Shimoga, Mysore and Dakshina Kannada for Hijab Issues. Any kind of gatherings including protests and rallies are strictly banned in these districts. Pre-university colleges and degree colleges in Karnataka are scheduled to reopen from Wednesday.

Colleges were shut due to Hijab Issues. The protests in Karnataka began in January this year when some students of Government Girls PU college in the Udupi district claimed that they were denied entry into the college for wearing hijab. The pre-university education board had released a circular stating that students can wear only the uniform approved by the school administration and no other religious practices will be allowed in colleges. However, protests from Muslim girls forced the state to shut schools and colleges for almost a week.

The Muslim girls who have moved the Karnataka High Court against the ban on Hijab argued on Tuesday that wearing the headscarf was an innocent practice of faith and not a mere display of religious jingoism. They also requested the full bench of the HC to make a leeway to attend classes with headscarves as the court’s interim order had suspended their ‘fundamental rights’.

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Dwelling on Article 25 of the Indian constitution before the bench, senior counsel Devadatt Kamat, appearing for the Muslim girls from Udupi pre-university college, said the article speaks about ‘freedom of conscience’. “This (freedom of conscience) has a lot of depth in that term. The essence of Article 25 is it protects the practice of innocent faith and not a mere display of religious identity or jingoism,” Kamat told the full bench of the High Court.