Hijab Wearing Muslim Girls Barred From Classes In Indian College

A group of Muslim students at a government-owned women’s college in Udupi district, Karnataka State, were forced to sit outside the classroom because the college administration alleged they are defying the rules since Hijab is not part of the uniform.

The girls have been marked absent from their classes since December 31, even as they continue attending college every day.

According to Aljazeera, the girls said; “The Hijab is part of their faith and practising it is their right guaranteed under law. We are not going to budge, no way. We tried to refuse but the principal and the teachers threatened us that they would ruin our careers.”

“We are happy the whole world has seen them force us to sit outside the classroom, thus making the claims of the administration fall flat.”

“Having to stay outside the class all day is not a pleasant thing to do. Our teachers and fellow students taunt us. They ask us what our problem is in taking off the Hijab.”

“We face a lot of humiliation for choosing to wear the hijab. Once a teacher made a hijab-wearing student sit on the floor in the middle of the class and stripped her hijab off.”

The college's principal, Rudra Gowda has said to Al Jazeera that they cannot allow the students to wear Hijab in the classrooms as it is not part of the uniform. He said they are abiding by the directives issued by the education ministry.

The Hijab ban has sparked outrage in India, with student and rights groups accusing the college administration of bias against the Muslim minority.

Afreen Fatima, an activist and secretary of the Fraternity Movement in New Delhi, said that; “It is Islamophobia. It is apartheid.”

 “We stand firmly with them in absolute solidarity and support. We demand that those in the administration who are stopping Muslim girls from wearing Hijab be suspended and that these girls should be allowed to enter their classrooms with their Hijabs, their self-respect and dignity.”

Also, a lawyers’ association has written to the state government, demanding an investigation against the college administration and teachers for harassing the students.

The association wrote in its letter that; “The denial of education to young Muslim students and forcing them to choose between getting an education and their faith is a human rights issue and must be treated as such.”

After the controversy over Hijab erupted, students in at least two other colleges in the state held protests donning saffron scarves inside the colleges and demanding a ban on Hijab.