Dispute over wearing of hijab as part of school uniforms in Karnataka
At the beginning of February 2022, a dispute pertaining to school uniforms was reported in the Indian state of Karnataka, when some Muslim students of a junior college who wanted to wear hijab to classes were denied entry on the grounds that it was a violation of the college's uniform policy which was also followed by the other religion students as well. Over the following weeks, the dispute spread to other schools and colleges across the state, with groups of Hindu students staging counter-protests by demanding to wear saffron scarves. On 5 February, the Karnataka government issued an order stating that uniforms must be worn compulsorily where policies exist and no exception can be made for the wearing of the hijab. Several educational institutions cited this order and denied entry to Muslim girls wearing the hijab.
Petitions were filed in the Karnataka High Court on behalf of the aggrieved students. On 10 February, the High Court issued an interim order restraining all students from wearing any form of religious attire. The order was implemented in all schools and colleges across Karnataka, with students, and in some cases teachers, being asked to remove hijabs and burqas outside the school gates. After a hearing of about 23 hours spread over 11 days, the court delivered its verdict on 15 March 2022, upholding the restrictions on hijab. The court ruled that the hijab is not an essential religious practice in Islam. Y-category security has been provided to the Karnataka High Court judges who delivered the hijab verdict, and two people were arrested for making threatening speeches. After control of the state legislative assembly changed from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to the Indian National Congress in the 2023 election, the new state government rescinded the order in December 2023.
The implementation of dress codes by educational institutes, banning the hijab, was criticised inside India and abroad by officials in countries including the United States and Pakistan, by Human Rights Watch, and by figures like Malala Yousafzai. The ban was defended by politicians such as Arif Mohammad Khan, Aaditya Thackeray, Vishva Hindu Parishad and activist Taslima Nasreen.
Background.
The education system of Karnataka involves 10 years of school and two years of pre-university college ("PU college"). Using powers conferred under the 'Karnataka Education Act, 1983', Sec. 145(1), the Government of Karnataka empowered recognised educational institutions to decide on uniforms for their students. For school students, uniforms are mandated by the state government and schools can choose the colours. For PU colleges, uniforms were not mandated by the government, but, over time, most college development committees (CDCs) adopted them, according to a PU department official. In 2017, the department issued a direction to all PU colleges saying that PU students should not be asked to wear uniforms. College managements that already had uniforms questioned the direction saying that the students and parents were happy with them. The direction was still found on the PU Education Department website in February 2022, but it does not appear to have been enforced.
Muslims constitute 13 per cent of the population of the state of Karnataka. Muslim women in the state are accessing public education in ever-increasing numbers. Data shows that the Gross Attendance Ratio of Muslim women in higher education rose from about 1 per cent in 2007–08 to a high of about 16 per cent in 2017–18. Many Muslim women consider hijab to be a part of the Islamic faith. In India, the public display of religious symbols is common, including the wearing of hijab and burqa. PEW reports that in Karnataka 71% of Muslim women and 42% of Hindu women cover their heads outside the home (in India, 89% of Muslim women and 59% of Hindu women cover their heads outside the home). Several colleges in Karnataka reported that a small number of Muslim students have "always" worn the hijab in classroom. M Raghupathy, who was Karnataka's education minister in a Janata Party government in the 1980s, said that the government's uniform mandates had allowed both the hijab and the Christian nun's habit. He said that the Bharatiya Janata Party had not objected to the hijab back then.
According to the BBC, the coastal belt of Karnataka has seen protests over hijab in the past but such issues were often quickly resolved. Not all cases were easy, however. A second-year PU student at Moodabidri was disallowed from attending classes for an entire year in 2011–12 due to her insistence on wearing a hijab. There have also been instances of Hindu students protesting with saffron scarves to oppose Muslim students being allowed with hijab or burqa in classes. The Muslim women were said to have been anxious that their parents would not allow them to go to college without their religious clothing.
The coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi have seen sectarian polarisation over the decades with the rise of Hindu nationalism, represented by organisations like Bajrang Dal, Hindu Jagarana Vedike, Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), and a parallel mobilisation of the Muslim community by the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its affiliates Campus Front of India (CFI) and the Social Democratic Party of India. The PFI, CFI and seven other associated outfits were banned by the Government of India for unlawful activities in September 2022.
From 2019 to 2023, Karnataka had been governed by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It had adopted popular Hindu nationalist policies such as banning cow slaughter and passing an "anti-conversion bill" which prohibits conversion from one religion to another by misrepresentation, force, fraud, allurement or marriage. Because the bill prohibits conversion for the sake of marriage, critics fear that the bill makes it difficult for interfaith couples to marry or for individuals to convert to Christianity or Islam.
Events.
Udupi dispute.
In early January 2022, a dispute over the wearing of the hijab was reported at a government-run Pre-University College for Girls at Udupi that had disallowed the wearing of hijab as being in violation of its uniform policy. Six Muslim female students insisted on wearing hijab to classes on top of their college uniform, arguing that hijab was part of their faith, and their constitutional right. The college said its uniform policy did not allow for the hijab. The girls offered to use the existing uniform's dupatta to cover their head, arguing they didn't need to wear a separate hijab of a different colour or material, but the college refused. The college allowed them to wear the hijab on campus, but did not allow them into classes. They were found sitting in corridors and working with their notebooks.
The case was brought to the attention of the media by Ansar Ahmed, the district president of "Karnataka Rakshana Vedike", a voluntary organisation. Campus Front of India (CFI), the student wing of the radical Islamic organisation Popular Front of India (PFI), threatened a protest, prompting the college to arrange a police presence. The political wing of the PFI, the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), is also said to have threatened protests. The college authorities met and talked with the parents but remained firm in their resolution not to allow religious attire.
What caused the students' change of mind on the hijab issue is uncertain. They admit to having attended the first year of class as per the college's no-hijab policy. They went to campus in burqas and removed them in a "ladies' room" before going to classes. One of the students also said that the parents were told about this when they joined the college in 2020. Others were doubtful. When the classes moved online due to Covid, the issue died down. With the on-campus classes resuming in September 2021, some of the students asked for permission to wear the hijab, which was denied on the grounds that everyone must wear a "common uniform". In October 2021, two of them took part in an anti-rape protest and a photograph of the event was circulated. This brought their situation into focus to their parents as well as the CFI. An investigation by the Udupi Police reported that CFI had approached the parents and offered help to challenge the college management. According to one of the students, the agreement "mentioned a compulsory uniform and said nothing about a hijab". So, the six students and their parents decided to insist upon hijab.
According to the federated Muslim organisation "Muslim Okkoota" that is active in the district, PFI and its allied organisations used the students "for their benefit".
The students' hijab protest seemed to be a ploy for the political wing (SDPI) to strengthen its support base. Some of the protesting parents and relatives are active members of SDPI and other PFI affiliates. The SDPI had just won six seats in the local body elections, which was termed a major triumph. "Muslim Okkoota" claims to have tried to resolve the dispute locally by talking to the college authorities, the parents and the CFI, but the CFI chose to publicise the issue by circulating photographs of students stranded outside classes, provoking the college and the BJP leaders to harden their stand. By the end of December, "nobody was in the mood for a compromise".
The college development committee, which is responsible for setting the uniform policy, was headed by K. Raghupati Bhat, an MLA belonging to the ruling BJP. Its 21 members did not include any Muslims. After the dispute erupted, Bhat held a meeting with parents of all students on 1 January and declared that the college would continue with its uniform code, which does not allow for hijab. The CFI and SDPI took the position that, since uniforms were not mandated by the government, they could not violate the students' religious rights. Bhat wrote to the Pre-University Education Department of the state government to clarify the matter. Thus, the matter was escalated to the state government level.
Saffron protests.
Soon after the Udupi episode became public, groups of Hindu students started coming to their colleges wearing saffron scarves to protest against Muslim students being allowed with hijabs. A leader of the Hindu Jagarana Vedike, an affiliate of the Sangh Parivar, declared, "if girls are allowed to wear hijab then other students will come with saffron shawls to institutions across Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts."
A co-educational first-grade college in Koppa tehsil in the Chikmagalur district, was the first to witness this development when some students wore saffron scarves and demanded that the dress code be enforced. The college asked the Muslim students to remove hijab in classrooms to deflect the crisis. The matter was resolved a few days later at a parent-teacher meeting where it was decided to allow Muslim girls to wear the hijab as long as they did not pin the headcover or tie them around their head. The parents of the Hindu students did not support their wards' demand to don saffron scarves. On 6 January, Hindu students at Pompei College in Mangalore wore saffron shawls to protest against the hijab, and were supported by the Hindu nationalist organizations ABVP, VHP and Bajrang Dal.
The saffron protests gained momentum in February, being seen at the Governrment PU college in Kundapura (2 February),
Bhandarkars' Arts &amp; Science College in the same town (3 February), and Dr BB Hegde College near Udupi (3 February). At the last location, the saffron protesters successfully blocked the hijab-wearing Muslim students from entering the college.
Government reaction.
The ministers of Bharatiya Janata Party-led Karnataka government reacted to the incidents with apparent distaste. The education minister B. C. Nagesh termed it as an "act of indiscipline". The students could not practise their "religion" in public educational institutions, in his view. The uniform had been present for over three decades and there had been no problem with it till this point, he said. He blamed "political leaders", an apparent reference to the PFI, for provoking the students, who were allegedly "playing politics". Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said that there must be a universal feeling in schools and colleges that "we are all Indians", which required that the uniform code set by colleges be followed.
On 27 January, the government announced the setting up of an expert committee to study the issue. Until its decision was made, the government urged the students to maintain the "status quo". For the Udupi PU College