Two Muslim students - the main petitioners in the hijab row in India's Karnataka state - were not allowed to sit their pre-university second-year exam in Udupi District on Friday.
Though both the students - Aliya Assadi and Resham - were allowed to enter the college and collect their exam tickets while wearing the hijab, they were not allowed to sit in the examination centre.
According to them, they argued with invigilators and the college principal for around 45 minutes. However, the official cited the Karnataka High Court order and told them they could not make any exception.
In March, the Karnataka High Court upheld a ban on hijabs in the state's educational institutions.
The court held that a hijab is "not an essential part of Islam" and thus cannot be protected by the right to freedom of religion.
However, other Muslim girls, who turned up at the examination centre wearing hijabs, said they would remove it inside the separate enclosure and wear it again after the exam was over, reported news agency PTI.
The state's education minister Bellur Chandrashekharaiah Nagesh has categorically said that students won't be allowed to take their exams wearing the hijab. This comes after a number of Muslim female students have asked the state government to allow them to wear their hijab during the final exams.
Government Pre-University College (PUC) is the same college where the uniform controversy broke out in December last year. The college principal told Indian daily newspaper, The Deccan Herald, that the college has 34 Muslim girl students of whom 28 have collected hall tickets for PUC exams.
The uniform controversy came under the media spotlight when six girls were not allowed entry in the classroom for “wearing a hijab”.