Hijab row: Student knocks on High Court door

Udupi: The hijab issue has taken a new twist with one of the girl students of Women's Government PU College here approaching the Karnataka High Court. The student in her petition stated that: "wearing hijab is the right given to me by the constitution of my country and I will wear it."

The other three girls arrived at the college wearing their headscarves on Tuesday but were denied entry into the classroom, a day after the development committee of the college called for a meeting on the contentious issue and instructed the four students to attend classes without headscarves.

Meanwhile, the students refuted the statement made on Monday by the College Development Committee president and Udupi MLA K Raghupathi Bhat, that they had partially agreed to comply with the order. The students claimed that Raghupathi Bhat made an incorrect statement and that it should be withdrawn. We were forced to agree as we were threatened with rustication from the college, but today we have come to the college wearing headscarves because it is our constitutional right," the students said.

After filing a petition in the High Court, Almas, one of the four students demanding that the college allow them to wear hijab in classroom, told reporters that they expect to receive justice through the legal process now that the petition has been filed.

An Iranian student, Aliya Al-Assadi expressed her views on social media, stating that she believes that wearing hijab is a constitutional right that no one has the authority to take away. As she put it on Twitter, "We will continue to come to college wearing hijab because the government college is funded entirely by taxpayer money."