Six Muslim female students at a pre-university college in the Dakshina Kannada district of India's Karnataka state were suspended on Thursday for violation of the dress code for wearing the hijab on campus.
The college administration said it was forced to take action because the girls had defied the dress code despite repeated warnings.
The administration stressed the students were suspended to "contain violence and prevent the issue from escalating".
In a separate incident on Thursday, 12 students at Mangaluru University College in Karnataka's Mangalore were sent back home after disallowing them to enter the classroom wearing hijabs.
The decision was made by the college principal.
The Mangalore schoolgirls visited the District Commissioner's Office, requesting to be allowed to attend classes wearing hijabs. The request, however, was denied.
The hijab row broke out in December last year at the Government PU College in Karnataka's Udupi district, where Muslim college students claimed that they were not allowed to enter classrooms wearing hijabs.
They were also forbidden from entering the examination hall and sitting for exams while wearing hijabs. Soon, this led to a massive protest by Muslim students.
In February, the state government issued an order saying that pupils in schools and students at 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 the Government PU College for Girls also filed a plea to seek permission and said that wearing the hijab is an "essential practise" of Islam.
However, in March, the Karnataka High Court ruled that the Hijab was not an essential religious garment, noting that where there was a prescribed uniform and all students must abide by it.