Despite the Karnataka High Court clarifying on its February 10 interim order in connection with the hijab row — that bans hijabs and saffron shawls in colleges where the college development committees have prescribed a uniform till its final order — confusion prevails on some campuses across the State.
So much so that a ‘Hijab Helpline’ launched two days ago is flooded with calls by girls and their parents. Syed Khalid of the Social Data Initiatives Forum, who started the helpline, said while many were inquiry calls, they had received over a hundred distinct complaints — from places scuh as Ballari and Bagalkot.
Two kinds of complaints
“There are distinctly two kinds of complaints. One is that hijab-wearing girls are not being allowed even in colleges where uniforms are not prescribed. Second is that in colleges where uniforms have been there, but earlier hijabs were also allowed, they are now being stopped,” he explained. The helpline deploys lawyers to speak to college managements over specific complaints regarding the interpretation of the interim order.
However, many colleges where uniforms have not been in force are also banning hijabs. For instance, Afreen (name changed), a student of a private college in Ballari, said though her college had no uniform, the principal had banned hijabs citing the High Court order and no amount of reasoning with him changed his mind.
Vinay Sreenivasa of Bahutva Karnataka said the interim order of the High Court was widely misinterpreted and misused to ban hijabs. “There seems to be a deliberate misinterpretation of the interim order to target girls wearing hijabs and deny them entry into classrooms. The order clearly specifies where it is applicable, but the Government and even private colleges are treating it like a blanket ban,” he said.
Turban case
In another case, a row over a Sikh girl student wearing a turban cropped up at Mount Carmel College in Bengaluru recently.
“When we requested the few girls wearing hijabs to remove them in classrooms, in line with the interim order, two girls pointed out that the college captain, a Sikh girl, wears a turban and if that was allowed, they must be allowed to keep their hijab. We tried requesting the Sikh girl and her parents if she could remove her turban to maintain uniformity, but the girl’s father said it is an integral part of their culture. Since the interim order doesn’t ban a turban, we have allowed the girl to continue attending classes with the turban. The Muslim girls have agreed to comply and are attending classes removing their hijabs,” said Babitha Saldanha, principal of the college.
Gurucharan Singh, the Sikh girl’s father, said he pointed out to the college that since the interim order does not ban turbans, the girl must be allowed to wear one.
