Karnataka court refers hijab case to larger bench as row deepens

NEW DELHI/ ISLAMABAD: All gatherings and protests near educational institutions were banned in Bengaluru for two weeks from Wednesday amid the escalating row over hijabs in schools and colleges of Karnataka.

Amid protests in the state, right-wing groups have started targeting Muslim girls over their right to wear a hijab in classrooms, reported international media. Incidents of stone pelting and use of force by police were reported on Tuesday as protests by students spread to more colleges, prompting the Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to declare a three-day holiday for all educational institutions in order "to maintain peace and harmony".

In the midst of the controversy, Karnataka High Court -- which is hearing petitions filed by five women from a government college in Udupi against the hijab ban -- today referred the case to a larger bench in view of "the enormity of questions of importance which were debated". As such, a three-judge bench, headed by the Chief Justice of Karnataka, will Thursday hear the case to decide if schools and colleges can order students to not wear the hijab in classrooms.

The controversy also crossed state borders and surfaced in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and Puducherry on Tuesday. As the media attention on the issue grows, protests both for and against the use of hijabs in classrooms were seen in several cities on Wednesday, from Mumbai to Hyderabad.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday condemned the row over Muslim girls' rights to wear the hijab in educational institutions and said attempts are being made to inject communal venom in the minds of children.

He was responding to a question on the hijab controversy in Karnataka and alleged social media campaign against Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan on the way he offered his last respects to legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar.

"Our educational institutions should become a fertile ground for secularism. Instead, efforts are on to inject communal venom in the minds of the children. It is very dangerous," the chief minister told reporters.

Amid the ongoing developments around the hijab controversy in Karnataka, Congress General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala on Wednesday wrote a letter to students of the state wherein he alleged that the BJP-led Karnataka government's 'vested interests' are creating unwarranted issues just to "break the unity and spirit of Karnataka's students and youth".

In the letter, the Congress leader wrote, "Multilingual, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural identity of Bangalore and Karnataka has become a guiding principle of our growth. Mired by the stench of corruption and misgovernance, the BJP government of Karnataka and its vested interests are creating unwarranted issues just to break the unity and spirit of Karnataka's students and youth."

“Restricting these girls to exercise their right to freedom of religion is against the fundamental rights that are guaranteed under the constitution and forcing the students to remove hijab is denying them the dignity that is also a constitutional right,” said Sumayya Roushan, President of the Girls Islamic Organisation in Karnataka. “Moreover, here the right to education of the students is at stake.”

Bangalore police commissioner Kamal Pant issued an order restricting protests around educational institutions in the state capital for two weeks as protests elsewhere "have led to violence, disturbing public peace and order."

At Mahatma Gandhi Memorial College in Udupi one student said: "Those students who wore the hijab started this row first. "If they end it, we will also end it. If they wear a hijab then we are also forced to wear saffron to compete with them."

Meanwhile, Pakistan on Wednesday deplored the "reprehensible act" of banning Muslim students from wearing hijab in the Indian state of Karnataka and summoned the Indian envoy to convey Islamabad’s concerns.

Students at a government-run high school in the Indian state were told not to wear hijabs last month, an edict that soon spread to other educational institutions in the state. A hijab-clad student was also heckled and jeered at by a mob of Hindutva supporters in Karnataka on Tuesday.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Foreign Office (FO) said that the Indian Charge d'Affaires was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was conveyed the government's "grave concern and condemnation on the deeply reprehensible act" of banning Muslim students from wearing hijab in Karnataka.

"The Charge d’ Affaires was urged to convey to the government of India Pakistan’s extreme concern over the anti-hijab campaign, being spearheaded by RSS-BJP combine in Karnataka, which is part of its larger exclusionist and majoritarian agenda aimed at dehumanising and demonising Muslim women," the FO said.

The Indian diplomat was also conveyed Pakistan's concern that religious intolerance, negative stereotyping, stigmatisation and discrimination against Muslims was continuing unabated almost two years after the 2020 Delhi riots, which claimed the lives of 50 Muslims.

"The government of Pakistan is also alarmed at the deafening silence of the BJP leadership and the absence of discernable action against Hindutva proponents openly calling for the genocide of Muslims at the recently held Dharam Sansad in Haridwar, Uttarakhand," the statement said, referring to calls for the mass killing of Muslims by Hindutva leaders in India.

It was emphasised to the Indian envoy that the government of India must fulfil its responsibility to hold the perpetrators of harassment against women in Karnataka to account and take adequate measures to ensure the safety, security and well-being of Muslim women, the statement added.

"He was further urged to impress upon the government of India to take immediate action against the perpetrators and abettors of anti-Muslim violence in the Indian states of Assam, Tripura, Gurugram and Uttarakhand and bring justice to the victims of the Delhi riots," the FO said.

Pakistan also called on the international community, including the United Nations and the organisation of Islamic Cooperation, to take notice of the "worrying level of Islamophobia in India" and prevail upon Indian authorities to prevent systematic human rights violations against minorities in the country.