Karnataka Hijab Row: Udupi College Shuts for a Week Citing COVID-19 Surge

Almas and Aliya are among the eight Muslim girl students who have been barred from entering the classroom because they wear hijab.

(Photo: Namita Chauhan/The Quint)

The government women's PU (pre-university) college that sparked days-long protests after it refused entry to six students for 'wearing a hijab,' in Karnataka's Udupi, has announced a one-week holiday citing the surge in COVID-19 cases.

The college had attempted to justify the move by saying that "no religious activity will be allowed on campus." Meanwhile, all six girls have been marked absent since 31 December, and have not been able to attend their classes.

The issue has been unresolved for over three weeks, with Muslim girls still protesting their right to adhere to their religious dress code.

Student activist Zamzam Kapthi had spoken to The Quint earlier and stated, "If you say no religious act, then no religious act should be done. But here they do perform puja. We don't say anything about it. People wear bindis. That's a religious activity, too. This is our dress code, so that's why we asked them to let us wear the hijab."

The college administration, on the other had, has since underplayed the protests indicating that there are 150 Muslim students studying on campus, but only six have "made an issue" out of it.

On Thursday, the state of Karnataka logged 47,754 new COVID-19 cases, 22,143 recoveries, and 29 deaths in the last 24 hours.