Karnataka HC verdict on hijab ban: As Bommai appeals for harmony, students say won’t attend college

“It (hijab) is a part of Islam,” they said at a press conference hours after the verdict was out.

Chief Minister Bommai said everyone will have to abide by the court order. “Whatever it may be, it is about the future of our children… and education is (more) important than anything. We will have to follow the court orders and all need to co-operate to maintain peace and harmony,” he said.

The students, however, are planning to appeal against the High Court order.

“We are consulting our lawyers to approach the Supreme Court and will decide our next move,” they said, one of them adding she would not go to college unless students in hijab were allowed to attend classes there.

With the Class 12 (second Pre-University) board exams scheduled to start April 22, the students said they hope the top court will grant them “some relief” before the tests begin.

“This issue could have been resolved by allowing us inside the classroom when we first raised it. Just because our principal and lecturers denied (permission to attend class in hijab), now thousands of Muslim students across the state are affected. Many parents are not willing to send their children to college,” another student said at the press conference.

Elsewhere, eight students of the PU college in Kembhavi village of Yadgir district left the college premises just after the HC verdict came out. It was an hour after their preparatory examination had begun.

“It took us by surprise that they left the class without attending exams,” Yadgir Deputy Director of the Pre-University Department, Chandrakanth J Halli told The Indian Express.

Yadgir said the college management had allowed the students to attend classes in hijab  until the government ban on February 5. Even after that, he said, the girls would remove their hijab before entering the classroom.

Meanwhile, calling the HC order “unconstitutional and unacceptable”, Campus Front of India (CFI) state president Athavulla Punjalkatte said the court had delivered a verdict “but not justice”.

He said the HC verdict could now be a “catalyst” for the agenda of the BJP regime which, he alleged,  is “trying to… dehumanise a community”

“It is an alarming sign that the judiciary interprets religious texts. We demand to uphold rights based on the Indian Constitution,” he said in a statement.

The Udupi District Muslim Okkuta also expressed its disappointment over the court’s verdict and said they will move Supreme Court. “We are left with no choice,” the group’s organising secretary, Abdul Azeez Udyavar,  told The Indian Express.