In a government college in the Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka, six students were suspended from attending classes for a week. This was done as they repeatedly ignored the college's warning not to attend classes in headscarves.
Shekar MD, Principal of Government First Grade College, Uppinangady, suspended the six students on Tuesday, May 31. This happened when male students, a small group of them, started attending classes with saffron scarves to protest against girls wearing hijab.
It was also reported that on Thursday, June 2, two TV news channel journalists who went to the college to report the hijab controversy were kept under detention by a few pro-Hijab students. They also deleted the video clippings from their mobile phones.
According to a complaint lodged with the Uppinangady police station, Ajit Kumar and Paveen Kumar, who work for two Kannada news channels, were in the college on Thursday morning after they came to know about the hijab and saffron shawl faceoff.
Soon after they came out of the college principal's chamber after gathering the necessary information, a group of 20 students surrounded them and took them to task for entering the college premises.
They pushed them around and then took them to a classroom where they were kept under illegal detention for some time. The accused left them only after deleting the video clippings which they had recorded in the college.
When another two journalists entered the college, the students objected and the latter returned.
Strongly condemning the incident, journalists submitted memoranda to Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner KV Rajendra and SP Rishikesh Sonawane demanding immediate arrest of the accused students.
University College in Mangaluru
When it comes to University College in Mangaluru, Principal Dr Anasuya Rai refused to allow 16 hijab-clad students into the classrooms on Thursday.
It was just a few days ago that college students under ABVP had staged a protest against students wearing hijab.
As a result, the college and the Mangalore University had banned hijab and covering the head with a uniform veil. After they were denied entry on Thursday, the students were seen sitting near the library in the college before returning home.
