Amid Fierce Hijab Row, Bengaluru College Asks Sikh Girl To Remove Turban, She Refuses

While the Hijab row has still not cooled down in Karnataka, a 17-year-old Amritdhari (baptised) Sikh girl was asked by her college to remove her turban as the college has a uniform dress code and it has to follow the February 10 interim order of the Karnataka high court.

The court order restrained students from "wearing saffron shawls, hijab and religious flags or the like in classrooms of colleges which have prescribed a uniform."

According to a report by The Times of India, the girl's family insisted that the college never discriminated and has always been very considerate and polite but the Karnataka government and the high court have to clarify the matter and issue instructions.

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The student of Mount Carmel PU College, Bengaluru, who is also the president of the students' association, was politely asked to remove her turban for the first time on February 16 to which she refused.

The college authorities later spoke to her father saying they understand the importance of turban for Sikhs but are helpless due to the high court order.

¡°We have had no issues with the girl wearing the turban so far. When the college reopened on February 16, we informed all students about the high court order and we went on with our normal activities. On Tuesday, when deputy director of pre-university education (north) visited the college, he found a group of girls in hijab and told them to come to the office and told them about the high court order."

These girls have been demanding now that no girls should be allowed to wear their religious symbols and therefore the Sikh girl also should not be allowed to wear the turban. We spoke to the girl¡¯s father and later mailed him. We informed them about the order and told them to abide by it. The father responded that it (the turban) is an integral part of their life. We did not want to interfere, but the other girls have been insisting on uniformity and hence we sent the mail,¡± a Mount Carmel PU College spokesperson told TOI.

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¡°We never sent them out or are forcing anybody, we are just telling them that we need uniformity in the four walls of the classroom according to the high court order," the college said.

The college added that in a letter to the student's father, they have specifically mentioned that we believe in an inclusive society and respect all religious practices.

However, the deputy director of the pre-university education (north) G Sriram said that the HC order does not say anything about turbans and that they should not be dragging in more issues now.

The girl's father said that his daughter has never faced any discrimination so far and he told the college authorities that she would not remove her turban.

He wrote to the college authorities that the high court order says nothing about turbans and it should not be misunderstood.

In a separate incident reported by TOI, a six-year-old Sikh boy was refused admission to a school in Mangaluru because he was wearing a patka (turban). "He would either have to remove the patka or seek admission to a different school," S Balvinder Singh Virdi, (part of Rashtriya Swayansevak Sangh) told TOI.

The school has now asked for time till February 28 while they decide if he should be allowed in school in a patka.

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