New Delhi: Two Muslim girls from Udupi, who were among the six students who had approached the Karnataka high court challenging the ban on hijab, returned from the exam centre on Friday, April 22 as they were not allowed to write the exam wearing hijab, PTI reported.

The exam which began on Friday will go on till May 18.

After reaching the exam centre, they insisted that they should be allowed to write the exam wearing hijab but the college authorities citing the high court order denied them entry. Subsequently, the girls returned home.

However, according to Deccan Herald, all the six students of the Government Pre-University College (PUC) haven't yet collected their hall tickets, the mandatory document to take the exams.

The principal of the college in Udupi, where the uniform controversy broke out in December last year, told the newspaper that he tried convincing the students to take the hall tickets and appear for the exam, but they didn't show up. "Despite repeated phone calls and messages, the students were unwilling," he told DH.

He further said that the students can collect the hall tickets even on the last day of the exam.

Also read: Hijab Ban: The Marriage of Convenience Between Zealotry and Judicial Illogic

The Department of Pre-University Education has asked all PUC students to stick to the high court order on uniforms. Exam centres will have changing rooms where girls can remove hijab before the exam, the report added.

The college has 34 Muslim girl students. Of them, 28 have collected hall tickets for II PUC exams.

The uniform controversy came to media limelight when these six students were not allowed entry into the college premises for “wearing a hijab”. They were marked “absent” by the college since December 31, 2021. They were even forced by the principal, along with lecturers, to write a letter saying that they had not been attending classes for the days they were marked "absent", The Hindustan Gazette had reported.

Three of them were on February 28 not allowed to write their science practical exams.

The high court had banned the wearing of hijabs in school and college classrooms, saying that it is not a part of essential religious practices of Islam.

Several civil society groups have criticised the high court ruling, saying it invokes the larger issue of women's right of choice and free will.

The uniform controversy took an ugly turn in Karnataka when some students wore saffron scarves to college in protest against hijab-clad students. They also raised slogans of “Jai Shri Ram (praise Lord Ram)” while going to college.

On March 25, the Supreme Court dismissed a batch of petitions requesting urgent hearing of the case against the Karnataka high court verdict to ban hijabs in educational institutions, the Indian Express reported.

Responding to a request that the matter be heard soon as it would otherwise stop the girl students from appearing for their exams, Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana had said: “This has nothing to do with the exams…don’t sensationalise.”

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