After the Karnataka government upheld the ban on Hijab in educational institutions on Tuesday, Congress President DK Shivakumar expressed concern about the education and law and order situation in Karnataka and appealed to the state government to show mature leadership.
"My greatest concern in the hijab controversy is education and law and order. The Karnataka High Court has given a judgement but the responsibility for education, law and order and communal harmony is still with the government of Karnataka," wrote Shivakumar in his tweet.
He also appealed to the Karnataka government to show mature leadership and ensure that the law and order is maintained in and around the educational institutions, while communal harmony is kept alive in the state.
"I appeal to the Government of Karnataka to show mature leadership and ensure that law and order is maintained in and around schools and colleges, education of students is not hampered, regardless of religion and gender and there is communal harmony," he added.
Earlier in the day, the Karnataka High Court dismissed various petitions challenging a ban on Hijab in education institutions and said that wearing Hijab is not an essential religious practice of Islam.
A bench of Karnataka High Court comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice Krishna S Dixit, and Justice JM Khazi said that no case is made out for invalidating the Government Order of February 5.
The Hijab row had erupted in January this year when the Government PU College in Udupi allegedly barred six girls wearing the hijab from entering. Following this, the girls sat in protest sat outside college over being denied entry.
After this, boys of several colleges in Udupi started attending classes wearing saffron scarves. This protest spread to other parts of the state as well leading to protests and agitations in several places in Karnataka.
A batch of petitions was filed against the government's order in the Karnataka High Court by some girls seeking permission to wear the hijab in educational institutions.
( With inputs from ANI )
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