Bengaluru: Hijab ban in schools and colleges has deprived many Muslim girls of their constitutional right to education in Karnataka, a civil society report has said. The report released by the 'People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL)' Karnataka has recommended that the state government should bear this loss of the Muslim girl students.
As per the report titled 'Closing the Gates to Education, Violations of Rights of Muslim Women Students in Karnataka', the High Court verdict of upholding the state government ban did not direct any educational institutes to ban the hijab immediately. However, educational institutions were suddenly blocked, it said.
The report said that schools, PU colleges and graduate colleges imposed ban on hijab without respecting the rights of female students. “The College Education Department and the Education Department should clarify that the Karnataka High Court has not banned the wearing of hijab in all schools. The ban on hijab in educational institutions should be revoked,” it said.
Also read: SC's split verdict on Karnataka Hijab ban: Explained in 10 points
The report said that no legal action was taken by the Education Department against the college authorities against the “discrimination”. The PUCL prepared this report after conducting a study in five districts of the state namely Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Shimoga and Raichur. The research team said that they interacted with PU college, graduate college students to know their feedback about the hijab ban.
Based on the feedback of the Muslim girl students, the report said the fundamental right of the girl students was violated. The report also claimed that the district administration, education department and police have “violated their constitutional obligations”. As per the report, the Muslim girl students' classmates and friends have expressed their opposition to the hijab, which has shocked the aggrieved students.
“Thus, they have suddenly lost the support of their school, classmates and teachers. Also, the aggrieved female students are mentally distressed. The Muslim community has experienced this crisis alone,” the report said. It said that the majority of Indian citizens should have stood shoulder to shoulder with them for the protection of their fundamental rights.
Due to the Hijab ban, many Muslim girl students have been deprived of their right to write examinations and consequently an academic year, the report said. “Girl students were deprived of learning opportunities. This adversely affected the female students psychologically,” added the report.
"We didn't have many options at that time. It was not possible to transfer to another college. So we were forced to remove hijab,” the report quoted a Muslim student saying. “They felt that they were naked without hijab," the report said. The hijab row dominated the headlines during the early months of 2022 after a preuniversity college Udupi barred Muslim female students to wear the headgear.
The protests later spilled across the state. The Karnataka High Court while hearing a plea of the Muslim students on February 10, 2022, barred the students from wearing “saffron shawls, scarves, hijabs, religious flags or the like inside the classrooms”.
