Karnataka: Visuals Of Teachers Taking Off Hijab Before Entering Campus Gates Emerge

A video has emerged from Karnataka's Mandya city that purportedly shows teachers taking off their hijabs at the school gates before entering. This comes amid a heated row in the state centred around headscarves worn by many Muslim women and whether or not covering the head should be permitted on educational campuses.

Shared by journalist Imran Khan with Times Now, the video has amassed over two lakh views and thousands of reactions from Twitterati. It shows a burqa-clad woman walking to the school gates with a little girl. While the girl walks past the gates, the woman stands and disrobes herself, removing her burqa and hijab. She is shown wearing a pink saree underneath.

Further along in the same video, another woman in burqa, purportedly a teacher, is seen putting her hijab into her two-wheeler. District authorities in Mandya have allegedly instructed even teachers to be disallowed from entering campus with hijabs.

The incident from Mandya is reportedly from the Rotary School, from where other videos too have surfaced. One that is doing rounds shows a parent arguing with a teacher at the school gates, asking for his daughter to be allowed past the gates with her hijab on. As per reports, the teacher insists that the girl take off her scarf before entering campus.

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Over the past few weeks, girls across Karnataka colleges and schools have alleged they are being denied entry into classrooms with their religious garments on. School authorities on the other hand are citing a uniform dress code on campuses as the reason behind denying entry.

The insistence of groups of hijabi women to be allowed to continue classes has resulted in several Hindu students turning up in saffron scarves in protest. A three-day holiday was declared across the state's schools and colleges by the Chief Minister earlier this month in light of escalating tensions.

At Mandya's PES College, this divide resulted in a young burqa-clad woman being heckled by a group of slogan-shouting men on campus last week. Read an opinion here.

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The Karnataka High Court is presently hearing the hijab matter, involving petitions that challenge the ban on headscarves on campus. Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justices Krishna S Dixit and JM Khazi are on the bench presiding over the case.

Senior advocate Devadatt Kamat appearing for the petitioners said the ban on hijab is against Article 25 of the Constitution, which grants citizens the freedom to practice religion. He further argued that the hijab is an essential practice of Islam. Follow updates in the case here.