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Jamia students protest hijab ban, gov’t deploys paramilitary forces

Police and paramilitary forces deployed outside the Jamia Millia Islamia University after receiving news of peaceful student protest

JMI hijab protest
Image Courtesy:Twitter.com

On March 24, 2022, students of the Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi, called for a protest march iIn solidarity with the Muslim girl students in Karnataka. But instead of allowing students to exercise their right to protest peacefully, the government reacted by sending out a huge contingent of police and paramilitary forces that remain deployed outside the University.

Images and videos on social media show security personnel standing outside holding lathis, while inside, students decry the policies of the ruling regime and its ideological partner, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) that have caused an unnecessary controversy related to the traditional Islaic headscarf. Campus Front of India activists and students chanted slogans and protested the Karnataka High Court decision that virtually allowed the hijab ban by observing that wearing of hijab is not an essential practice in Islam. Some students held up posters that read “Seek Respect not Attention”.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court, on Thursday, refused to list the Muslim girl students’ plea for urgent hearing, reported Bar and Bench. The girls’ representative pleaded for a speedy hearing citing that the students would have exams but the Court dismissed the argument stating “that has nothing to do with the matter.”

This despite widespread news of how the Hijab row in the state has escalated to a point where Muslim girls refuse to enter educational premises if they are told to remove the head-dress. Netizens criticised the administration for this indirect exclusion of young girls. One person argued that the act of hindering girls’ education befits the Taliban but not democratic governments of India.

 

Related:

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Hijab row: Udupi girls dubbed terrorists by BJP leader
Walkouts, objections, after Karnataka HC verdict on Hijab, but BJP netas hail it

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