Dispute over wearing of hijab as part of school uniforms in Karnataka
At the beginning of January 2022, a dispute erupted in the Indian state of Karnataka, when some Muslim students wearing hijab in a junior college were denied entry to classes.[1] Over the following weeks, it spread to several other schools and colleges across the state. On 5 February 2022, the Karnataka government issued an order stating that uniforms must be worn compulsorily where policies exist and no exception can be made for the wearing of the hijab. Several schools cited this order and denied entry to Muslim girls wearing the hijab.[2][3] Following this, petitions with regard to this issue were filed in the Karnataka High Court. The High Court issued an interim order restraining all students from wearing any form of religious attire. On 8 February 2022, the Government of Karnataka announced the closure of high schools and colleges for three days after protests and disputes over the wearing of hijab intensified. When the schools reopened on 14 February 2022, the High Court order was implemented in all schools and colleges of Karnataka, asking the students to remove hijabs and burqas at the school gates.
The hijab ban was criticized inside India and internationally by officials in the United States and Pakistan, by Human Rights Watch, and by figures like Malala Yousafzai and Noam Chomsky. The ban was defended inside India by politicians such as Aaditya Thackeray and Vishva Hindu Parishad.
Background
The education system of Karnataka involves 10 years of school and two years of pre-university college ("PU college"). On the basis of the Karnataka Education Act, 1983 the Government of Karnataka has empowered the school development and monitoring committees (SDMCs) and college development committees (CDCs) to decide on uniforms for their students.[4][5][a]
For school students, uniforms are mandated by the state government, even though schools are able to choose colours.[7]
For PU colleges, uniforms were not mandated by the government, but, over time, the majority of college CDCs have adopted them.[8]
In 2017, the PU Education Departent issued a direction to all PU colleges saying that PU students should not be asked to wear uniforms.[9]
College managements that already had uniforms questioned the direction saying the students and parents were happy with them.[10]
The direction was still found on the PU Education Department website in February 2022, but it does not appear to have been enforced.[11][8]
Muslims constitute 13 per cent of the population of the state of Karnataka.[12] Muslim women in the state are accessing public education in ever-increasing numbers. Data shows that the Gross Attendance Ratio of Muslim women in higher education rose from 1.1 per cent in 2007-08 to a high of 15.8 per cent in 2017-18.[13] Many Muslim women consider hijab to be a part of the Islamic faith.[14] In India, the public display of religious symbols is common,[15] including the wearing of hijab and burqa.[16][15][14] Several colleges in Karnataka reported that a small number of Muslim students have "always" worn the hijab in classroom. M Raghupathy, who was Karnataka's education minister in a Janata Party government in the 1980s, said that the government's uniform mandates had allowed both the hijab and the Christian nun's habit. He said that the Bharatiya Janata Party had not objected to the hijab back then.[18]
According to BBC, the coastal belt of Karnataka has seen protests over hijab in the past but such issues were often quickly resolved.[19] Not all cases were easy, however. A second-year PU student at Moodbidri was disallowed from attending classes for an entire year in 2011–12 due to her insistence on wearing hijab.[20][21] There have also been instances of Hindu students protesting with saffron scarves[b] to oppose Muslim students being allowed with hijab or burqa in classes.[23][24][25] The Muslim women were said to have been anxious that their parents would not allow them to go to college without their religious clothing.[24]
Since 2019, Karnataka has been governed by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).[12] It has adopted popular Hindu nationalist policies such as banning cow slaughter[26][27] and passing an "anti-conversion bill" that critics say makes it difficult for interfaith couples to marry or for individuals to convert to Christianity or Islam.[26][27]
Events
Udupi dispute
In early January 2022, a dispute over the wearing of the hijab was reported at a government-run Pre-University College for Girls at Udupi that had disallowed the wearing of hijab as being in violation of its uniform policy.[1] Six Muslim female students insisted on wearing hijab to classes on top of their college uniform.[28] The college said its uniform policy did not allow for the hijab.[1] The girls offered to use the existing uniform's dupatta to cover their head, arguing they didn't need to wear a separate hijab of a different colour or material, but the college refused.[1][29] The college allowed them to wear the hijab on campus, but did not allow them into classes.[30][15] They were found sitting in corridors and working with their notebooks.[29]
The case was brought to the attention of the media by Ansar Ahmed, the district president of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, a voluntary organisation.[1] The student wing of Islamic organisation Popular Front of India (PFI),[c] called Campus Front of India (CFI), threatened a protest, prompting the college to arrange a police presence.[1] The political wing of PFI, the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), is also said to have threatened protests.[33] The college authorities met and talked with the parents but remained firm in their resolution not to allow religious attire.[34][35]
What caused the students' change of mind on the hijab issue is uncertain. They admit to having attended the first year of class as per the college policy of removing hijab for the classrooms. They believed that this was agreed to between the college administration and their parents.[36][37] In October 2021, some of the students took part in an anti-rape protest and a photograph of the event was circulated. This brought their situation into focus for their parents as well as CFI.[d] An investigation by the Udupi Police reported that CFI had approached the parents and offered help to challenge the college management.[41] According to one of the students, the agreement "mentioned a compulsory uniform and said nothing about a hijab".[36] So, the six students and their parents decided to insist upon hijab.[42]
The college development committee, which is responsible for setting the uniform policy, was headed by K. Raghupati Bhat, an MLA belonging to the ruling BJP. Its 21 members did not include any Muslims.[43] After the dispute erupted, Bhat held a meeting with parents of all students on 1 January and declared that the college would continue with its uniform code, which does not allow for hijab.[35] During December and January, efforts were made to resolve the dispute with the involvement of the Udupi district Muslim Okkutta (Muslim Federation)[44][45][e] and the district collector.[47][48] The CFI and SDPI took the position that, since uniforms were not mandated by the government, they could not violate the students' religious rights. Bhat told the media that the college had written to the Pre-University Education Department of the state government to clarify the matter.[49] Thus, the matter was escalated to the state government level.
Other locations
Soon after the Udupi episode became public, at a co-educational first-grade college in Koppa in the Chikmagalur district, where hijabs were being allowed, Hindu students started wearing saffron scarves to the college to protest the allowance of hijab.[50]
The college asked the Muslim students to remove hijab in classrooms in order to deflect the crisis.[51] The matter was resolved a few days later at a parent-teacher meeting where it was decided to allow Muslim girls with hijab. The parents of the Hindu students did not support their wards donning saffron scarves.[29]
During the rest of January 2022, the row over hijab has spilled over to other institutions in the Udupi district. On 6 January 2022, Hindu students wore saffron shawls to protest against the hijab at Pompei College in Mangalore.[52] The protests were supported by the Hindu nationalist organizations ABVP, VHP and Bajrang Dal.[52] On 3 February 2022, Hindu students wearing saffron shawls prevented hijab-wearing Muslim students from entering Dr BB Hegde College near Udupi.[53]
Government reaction
The ministers of Bharatiya Janata Party-led Karnataka government reacted to the incidents with apparent distaste. The education minister B. C. Nagesh termed it as an "act of indiscipline". The students could not practise their "religion" in public educational institutions, in his view.[49] The uniform had been present for over three decades and there had been no problem with it till this point, he said.[54] He blamed "political leaders", an apparent reference to the PFI, for provoking the students, who were allegedly "playing politics".[55] Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said that there must be a universal feeling in schools and colleges that "we are all Indians", which required that the uniform code set by colleges be followed.[56]
On 27 January 2022, the government announced the setting up of an expert committee to study the issue. Until its decision was made, the government urged the students to maintain the "status quo".[56] For the Udupi PU College students, the "status quo" apparently meant that they should "adhere to the uniform rule". The government issued an order to this effect.[56] The CDC chairman Raghupati Bhat called a meeting with parents and told them that the students should remove the hijab in the classroom.[57]
On either 3 February or 4 February 2022,[f] the government issued an order stating that the uniforms mandated by college development committees must be worn "compulsorily".[59] Students following religious tenents adversely impacted "equality and unity" in colleges, according to the order. The preamble stated that a ban on hijab was "not illegal", and cited three court orders from Kerala, Bombay and Madras High Courts. For those colleges where the CDCs did not mandate a uniform, the students must still wear attire that maintains "equality and unity and doesn't hamper public order".[60]The order mentioned that the uniform were to be decided by the state government in government schools, and by the school management in private schools. Several schools cited this order and denied entry to Muslim girls wearing the burqa.[2][3][61]
Fallout
At the Dr BB Hegde College, where the hijab-wearing students were blocked the previous day, the college administration banned the hijab on 4 February, citing the government order. The students had apparently been wearing hijab for three years at the school without issue.[53] Bhandarkars' Arts & Science College also banned the hijab; some of its female Muslim students found their college's treatment "humiliating".[53]
At a college in Kundapur, 28 students wearing hijab were barred from entering the college premises on 3 February.[62] The students were very anxious because their public exams were just two months away. The Telegraph commented that their "tearful pleas fell on deaf ears".[55]
On 8 February 2022, Mahatma Gandhi Memorial College prevented students in hijab from entering, even though multiple students said the college had not objected to her hijab in the past.[63][64]
The dispute then began to spread to other institutions across Karnataka, between Muslim students wanting to wear hijab and the administrations barring them. The controversy intensified in early February 2022.[65]
Between 4 and 7 February 2022, counter-protests led by students who were against allowing students wearing the hijab to enter the college. These students marched to the college wearing saffron shawls. However, authorities stopped them from entering the premises and asked the students to remove the shawls.[66] The students were allowed in only after they complied with the request.[71]
On 7 February 2022, some students wore blue shawls and chanted Jai Bhim at a college in Chikmagalur in support of Muslim girls in hijab (as opposed to the saffron shawls that were against the wearing of hijab).[72]
On 10 February 2022, a lone Muslim woman, named Muskan Khan, clad in a burqa was heckled on her college grounds in Mandya by a crowd of male Hindu students wearing saffron shawls and chanting "Jai Shri Ram". She responded back shouting "Allahu Akbar", while the college staff controlled the crowd and escorted her into the building.[73][74][26] A video of the incident went viral.[75] The treatment of Muskan Khan was condemned by many notable figures, including by actors John Cusack,[76] Pooja Bhatt,[76] Fakhre Alam,[76] and footballer Paul Pogba.[77]
On 8 February 2022, the Government of Karnataka announced the closure of high schools and colleges for three days, after the controversy over the wearing of hijab by Muslim students intensified.[78][79] The Bangalore Police prohibited protests and agitations from 9 February until 22 February within the vicinity of any educational institution.[80] Two Muslim men were arrested when they were found carrying lethal weapons during a protest. Three others managed to flee.[81]
Court case
Several students from the Government Pre-University College for Girls, Udupi, petitioned the Karnataka High Court against the ban, stating that wearing the burqa was their religious right.[26][82][2]
On 9 February 2022, a single judge hearing the case referred the matter to a larger bench.[83][84]
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi passed an interim order on 11 February. It requested the State to re-open the educational institutions and restrained students from wearing any sort of religious clothes in classrooms until the court decided the matter.[85][86]
The United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Rashad Hussain described the hijab ban was a violation of freedom of religion.[99]
The National Assembly of Bahrain condemned the hijab ban, calling for an end to discrimination against Muslims in India.[100][101]
Kuwaiti MPs joined international criticism of hijab row; demanding for Kuwait to ban BJP leaders from entering the country.[102]
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi accused India of denying Muslim girls their right to education.[103]
Taliban spokesman Inamullah Samangani praised the college girls for wearing hijab and defending their religious values.[104]