NEW DELHI: Amid the Karnataka hijab controversy, a video has surfaced where a Muslim girl wearing hijab was bullied by a saffron scarf-clad mob, chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’, while she was entering her college.
The viral video shows the saffron-clad mob surrounding the girl and raising slogans ‘Jai Shri Ram’ when the Muslim girl named Muskan, wearing a hijab, enters her college. In response, the girl also raised the slogans ‘Allah-hu-Akbar’.
A more expanded and clean feed of the above episode. #KarnatakaHijabRow pic.twitter.com/TIieUQJUWN
— Imran Khan (@KeypadGuerilla) February 8, 2022
Protests erupted at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial College in Udupi today after a large group of students wearing saffron stoles and headgears raised slogans in the college campus as hijab-clad Muslim girls were staging a protest demanding justice, forcing the police and college authorities to intervene.
Talking to India Today, the girl said: “They asked me to take my burqa off and were not letting me in. As soon as I entered the college, the group started chanting Jai Shri Ram.”
The girl said that the mob included outsiders and boys from her college, however, the college staff supported her. “I was scared when the mob surrounded me,” she added.
As protests for and against the ‘hijab’ intensified at colleges in different parts of Karnataka, state’s Home Minister Araga Jnanendra on Tuesday while appealing for peace said no one should give an opportunity to use the police force.
The Home Minister’s warning came as tension prevailed at some educational institutions in Udupi, Shivamogga, Bagalkote and other parts, forcing the police and authorities to intervene. The administration has also imposed Section 144 in Shivamogga.
Earlier in the day, Authorities in southern India on Tuesday shut down schools for the next three days amid the hijab ban protest.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj S Bommai tweeted he has ordered all high schools and colleges to remain shut “to maintain peace and harmony”. “I have ordered closure of all high schools and colleges for next three days. All concerned are requested to cooperate,” the chief minister wrote.
