by FATIMA KHAN
When 18-year-old A H Almas was stopped from entering her classroom along with five other students in late December last year, she didn’t think that she would find herself running from pillar to post several months later to regain access to her classes.
“We never thought this issue would drag so much. Giving us permission to wear the hijab was in our principal’s hands. If he had allowed us at the beginning itself, this issue wouldn’t have become so huge,” said Almas.
In these seven months, not only have the number of hijabi girls barred from entering their classes swollen from six to many thousands, the victims of Karnataka government’s hijab ban in educational institutions have also faced several death threats and have found their closest friends turn against them. Teachers too haven’t been spared, with many having to choose between either removing their hijab before taking their classes or quitting their jobs.
What started as a ban in one college quickly snowballed into a series of colleges across Karnataka barring hijab-clad students from entering. Hijabi students took to the streets to protest against this ban, but were soon countered by protests by saffron-shawl wearing students—many from the right-wing student body, Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
On 5 February 2022, the Karnataka government issued an order banning the Hijab in government educational institutions, saying that ‘clothes which disturb equality, integrity and public law and order should not be worn.’ On 15 March 2022, the Karnataka High Court upheld the state government’s ban on hijab in government educational institutions–pushing the future of several Muslim girls into further jeopardy.
“If our Hindu brothers and sisters can sit inside the classroom and study, why can’t we? Because of just hijab? What exactly is everyone’s problem with our hijab? Do we carry any weapons inside our hijab? We just want to wear the hijab and study with respect and dignity,” said Shaheen, a student in Karnataka’s Shivamogga.
Since she was a little girl, Hiba Sheik has known she wants to be a police officer. In 7th grade, she began preparing for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination. “There are so many crimes that happen against women, no one does anything about them. I want to become a police officer and change that,” she said.
In March 2022, Hiba stepped into a police station for the first time—not as a police officer, but as a 19-year-old filing a complaint against boys from her own college. In a video that subsequently went viral, Hiba and other hijabi students can be seen being accosted by some boys from the right-wing student body, the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). Hiba can be seen fighting back.
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