Janivara row: Unacceptable, says Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao

Bengaluru: Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao on Saturday described as “inhumane” the act of forcing students to remove earrings, bangles, hijab, the sacred thread and chopping off their long sleeves with scissors.

“This undermines the morale of students and is unacceptable and condemnable,” Rao, the Brahmin face in Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's Cabinet, said in a statement. 

Rao was reacting to three Brahmin students being asked to take off their sacred thread (janivara) to write the Common Entrance Test (CET) at the Krupanidhi College. “A complaint has already been registered in this regard, and the police are conducting an investigation. Action will be taken transparently within the framework of the law. Students and parents need not have any anxiety over this matter,” Rao said. 

“Examination centres must be places that test students’ knowledge, not spaces that harm their dignity. The government will take very serious measures to ensure that such incidents do not recur in our state,” Rao said and urged students not to lose courage.