The hijab controversy has rocked India’s Karnataka state again as Hindu students on Thursday staged protests about Muslim girls coming to Mangaluru University wearing the hijab.
Several videos are doing the rounds on the internet in which Hindu students can be seen gathered at the university's compound shouting slogans and protesting against the Muslim students for wearing the hijab in the lecture theatre.
The Hindu students said that according to the guidelines, every student should follow a uniform dress code in the school and authorities should not allow students to wear the hijab inside lectures.
The hijab row first broke out in December last year at the Government PU College in Karnataka’s Udupi district where Muslim college girls claimed that they were not allowed to enter classrooms wearing the hijab. They were also forbidden to enter the examination hall and sit exams while wearing the hijab and this led to a massive protest by the Muslim students.
In February, the state government issued an order saying that pupils in schools and students in pre-university colleges throughout the state must wear uniforms prescribed either by it or the management of the private educational establishments.
A few students of Government PU College for Girls also filed a plea to seek permission and said that wearing the hijab is an "essential practice" of Islam.
However, in March, the Karnataka High Court ruled that the hijab is not an essential religious garment, noting that where there is a prescribed uniform, students must abide by it.