BENGALURU: The Karnataka government declared a three-day holiday for high schools and colleges across the state as the hijab controversy took a violent turn in some parts of Karnataka on Tuesday. The educational institutions will reopen on February 12.
“All government, aided, unaided, degree, diploma and engineering colleges will be closed for three days. However, examinations scheduled between February 9 and 11 will be held as scheduled,’’ said the government order. Anticipating trouble, many educational institutions, especially in Bengaluru, decided to shut down all classes.
The raging row over the right of girls to wear the hijab in classrooms spread from the coastal belt to most parts of Karnataka. In violent protests, several students, teachers and policemen were injured even as the case came up for hearing in the high court.
Prohibitory orders were clamped in Shivamogga city till Wednesday following clashes between two students’ groups of Shivamogga Government College. SP Lakshmiprasad said the two groups pelted stones at each other. About a dozen students were hurt and five were taken into police custody. Some miscreants pelted stones at a private bus. Students wearing saffron shawls hoisted the “bhagwa dhwaj (saffron flag)” on the college premises.
Police fired teargas shells and carried out a baton charge to quell the mob on the
Harihar
First Grade College campus. The district administration clamped prohibitory orders in
Davanagere
and Harihar. Several policemen and students were injured and many two-wheelers were damaged. Police asked the mob to move out of the area, but when the group did not budge they fired teargas shells.
Tension prevailed at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial College, Udupi, after students arrived wearing saffron turbans and shawls to counter the students wearing hijabs. College authorities rushed to spot and tried to convince the students to stop their protests. Muslim students refused to enter the classroom without the hijab, stating they had been wearing it since childhood.
Police resorted to a lathi charge to disperse students and one student was injured at Rabakavi-Banahatti in Bagalkot district. Protesting students faced off at Government PU College. Hijab-wearing girls blocked the Jamkhandi-Kudachi road and some miscreants pelted stones, wounding a student. Five people were taken into custody.
Some students tried to enter R D Patil PU College in Sindagi, Vijayapura district, wearing shawls and hijabs but principal
Sannalli
denied them entry. When they refused to obey instructions, police dispersed the students. Girls wearing hijabs staged a dharna at Government First Grade College for Women in Gadag.
In
Mandya
, a student, identified as
Muskan Khan
, who took on male students heckling her for wearing a hijab, became a viral sensation, with the Jamiatul Ulema-e-Hind announcing a Rs 5 lakh award for standing up for her rights.
In Madikeri, a knifing originally thought to be due to the hijab row was later clarified to be over a “love” dispute between two Hindu boys.
Chief minister
Basavaraj Bommai appealed to students to maintain peace and harmony till the Karnataka high court delivers its verdict on the issue.
State home minister
Araga Jnanendra
, while appealing for peace, said no one should create a situation where police would have to use force. “You (students) are all educated, you have to think about your future. After two years of Covid-19, this year classes have been conducted in a good way. This is the time for you to prepare for your exams that are coming up in a couple of months,” he said.