Receiving a complaint from a man stating that his wife was asked to remove her hijab when they both had gone to a school to seek admission for their four-year-old son, the Selaiyur police in Chennai have initiated a probe into the matter.
The complaint was filed by Ashiq Meeran of Tambaram who had gone to a private school in East Tambaram on April 21. An employee at the school asked his wife to remove her hijab as the attire is not allowed on the school premises. The couple then went to the principal and complained about the incident.
According to the statement given to the Selaiyur police by the couple, the principal backed the stand taken by the employee. It was following this that the couple along with their relatives lodged the complaint. A police official said that they will be meeting the school principal and will obtain a response over the issue as well as speak to the school staff.
The state of Tamil Nadu has remained free from the hijab row even as neighbouring Karnataka was occupied with it. The action of the school authorities is said to have upset the state government and political parties.
"This is unfortunate and I will have to check on what transpired in the school on Thursday. Strong action will be taken against the school authorities if they are found guilty and we are waiting for the report of the police who have already commenced a probe," said Tamil Nadu school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi while talking to IANS.
In a separate incident during the urban local body elections in February, a BJP worker was arrested at a polling booth in Madurai after he asked a woman to remove her hijab.
