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Hijab row | Follow dress code prescribed by College Management Committees, says Karnataka Government

Amidst the row over Muslim girl students wearing hijab being barred into pre-university classes in Udupi district, the State Government on Saturday issued an order stating that students have to comply with the uniform/dress code prescribed by College Development Committees.

The order comes even as a few girl students from Udupi, on being denied entry into classrooms for wearing hijab, have approached the High Court over the issue. Five colleges in the district have witnessed a row over hijab-wearing Muslim girls and Hindu students who wore saffron shawls as a counter being denied entry to classrooms.

The order said that some students following their religious tenets in the classrooms had adversely impacted “equality and unity” in colleges. It said that even in cases where the College Management Committees have not prescribed a uniform/dress code, students have to wear dresses that maintains “equality and unity and doesn’t hamper public order.”

Though uniform is not mandatory in colleges, College Management Committees, often headed by local MLAs, have been insisting on a dress code, including banning hijabs, in Udupi and other districts. With this order, the government has upheld the authority of the CMCs on imposing a dress code in colleges.

Students wearing sit outside their school after authorities denied entry for wearing a hijab, at Kundapura in Karnataka’s Udupi district on February 4, 2022.

The government had recently announced an expert committee to look into the dress code issue in colleges. But the order issued on Saturday clearly sides with the CMCs.

The preamble to the operative part of the order, issued under Karnataka Education Act, 1983, stated that a ban on hijab was not illegal. Quoting three orders from Kerala, Bombay and Madras High Courts, the government said in its order that the courts have in multiple cases held mandating students not to wear a headscarf or to come to classrooms without covering their heads was not a violation of Article 25 of the Constitution of India, that provides freedom of religion. The students denied entry for wearing hijab have contended that it is a violation.

Meanwhile, Arvind Narrain, president, People’s Union of Civil Liberties, Karnataka, said that the Government order was discriminatory and will be challenged legally. “The Government’s order cannot violate Article 14 and 25 of the Constitution,” he said.

While the Congress leaders backed the Muslim students, the BJP said it will not allow ’Talibanisation’ of education institutions.

Congress Legislature Party leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who has thrown his weight behind Muslim girls on their right to wear the hijab to educational institutions, accused the BJP and RSS of trying to create communal disharmony throughout the State in the name of hijab.

Minister for Kannada, Culture and Energy V. Sunil Kumar challenged those speaking in favour of wearing hijab inside educational institutions, including Mr. Siddaramaiah, to fight for the entry of Muslim women into masjids (mosques).

Ruling BJP’s State president and Member of Parliament Nalin Kumar Kateel said the government will not allow hijab at educational institutions and will take strict measures to ensure that things go as per rules of the school, and won’t let things be turned into "Taliban like".

The Karnataka High Court on February 8 will hear the petitions filed by five girls studying in a Government Pre-university College in Udupi, questioning hijab restriction in college.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the country is robbing the future of its daughters by letting the hijab come in the way of their education.