Another Muslim girl, a student of the First Grade Degree College in Uppinangady, was suspended on Friday for defying the college dress code and arriving at the college wearing a headscarf. She is the seventh student to be suspended for such a violation.
Following the unrest that broke out in the college on Thursday—students protested for and against the suspension of six girls for wearing hijab—Puttur MLA Sanjeeva Matandoor, who is also the chairman of the College Development Committee, convened a meeting on Friday.
Speaking to DH, Matandoor said their suspension will be revoked and they will be allowed inside classrooms if they give it in writing that they will adhere to the dress code.
However, he also clarified that disciplinary action will be initiated against those who fail to adhere to the college dress code.
“In fact, we have asked the girl students to remove their headscarves in the ladies’ restroom before entering the classrooms, library, sports ground and other places in the campus. Students have to strictly adhere to the guidelines of dress code inside college campus, covering a span of 10-acre,” said the MLA.
If the students continued to violate the dress code, then the college will have to decide on their expulsion, he stated.
A section of students, when they saw a student entering a classroom wearing a headscarf, demanded action against her. There were students both for and against the suspensions, and as a mark of their protest, did not attend classes.
Unlike on Thursday, no one wore saffron shawls on the campus on Friday, Matandoor said.
Meanwhile, Mangalore University Vidyarthi Samanvaya Samithi (students coordination committee) demanded that University College, a constituent college of Mangalore University, provide justice to the students who were denied permission to attend classes wearing headscarves. The committee has urged that the issue should be resolved in two days.
Following a High Court verdict, Mangalore University Syndicate in May at its meeting had adopted a resolution that made uniforms compulsory, and without hijab, for students studying in its constituent colleges.