Karnataka: Hearing the plea filed by the Muslim students, the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday said that it will abide by the Constitution and not get swayed by passions or emotions while hearing a case on allowing students to wear hijabs in colleges. “Constitution is the Bhagavad Gita for me,” Justice Krishna Dixit hearing the case said. “I have taken the oath to abide by Constitution. Let’s keep the emotions aside.”
Advocate Kamath presenting the defence quoted a few verses of the Quran which stated the importance of a headscarf or a veil in the religion.
Meanwhile, the principal of the MGM college in the Udipi district declared holidays until further notice as the protests turned violent. Even as the court was hearing the matter today, protests at the state at Pre-University Colleges escalated to stage lathi charge and stone-pelting. The Karnataka Police resorted to lathi-charge as incidents of stone-pelting were reported during the students’ protest. The police caned the students and protesters to quell the mob from the surrounding areas of the Bapujinagar Government Pre-University College in Shivamogga.
In another incident, members of Bajrang Dal distributed saffron shawl outside PU college in Hassan. Hijab wearing students refused to remove their headscarf before entering the class, and the Principal and teaching staff had to convince both parties to enter the class without hijab and shawl.