After Hijab, Bengaluru College Asks Sikh Girl To Take Off Her Turban

Amid the hijab row in Karnataka, a new controversy over the dress has erupted in a college in Bengaluru. A 17-year-old Amritdhari, a Sikh girl, was asked by the college management to take off her turban, citing the college has a uniform dress code.

She was informed by the management that she must adhere to the Karnataka High Court’s interim order, which was passed on February 10, over the plea challenging the ban on hijab. 

The High Court order prohibits students from wearing saffron shawls, hijab, religious flags or the like in classrooms of colleges that have recommended a dress code.

The female student from Mount Carmel PU College in Bengaluru was first asked to take her turban on February 16. However, the student refused. 

Later, her father was contacted by the college management and told that they understood the significance of the turban for a Sikh but were constrained by the high court judgement. 

The college’s spokesperson said the students were informed about the High Court order when it reopened on February 16. However, the deputy director of pre-university education (north) visited the institution on Tuesday and noticed a group of girls wearing hijabs and invited them to the office. 

The director informed them of the high court judgement. 

“These girls are now demanding that no girls be allowed to wear their religious insignia, including the turban, which the Sikh girl is also not allowed to wear. They talked to the girl’s father and mailed him later”. 

The girl’s father, Gurucharan Singh, replied to the college management that he has lived in Karnataka for the last 17 years, and his child would not remove her turban. 

In a letter to the college management, he said, “He wrote to the college to point out that the high court order made no mention of the ‘Sikh turban,’ and that this should not be misinterpreted. He said that, however, he is in contact with their community advocates and various organisations, pleading with the authorities to allow his daughter to attend classes while wearing her turban”.