Sri Venkatraman Swamy (SVS) College, run by the SVS Vidyavardhaka Sangha at Vidyagiri in Bantwal, in the coastal Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka, directed Aysha Ashmin, 19, a first year B Com student, not to enter the classroom with a headscarf.
Daughter of B Mohammed of Panemangalore, Aysha said the principal’s action was inexplicable considering the fact that no objections were raised when she wore a burqa when she was interviewed on July 11. “But two days later, they (the principal Dr Seetharama Mayya and the lecturers) warned me not to wear the burqa inside the class. So I stopped wearing the burqa and instead started wearing churidar with a scarf around my head,” Aysha said. However, her parents were summoned to the college by the principal on August 6 when she was “restricted from entering class wearing the headscarf as well”. Because of the principal’s ban, Aysha has not only missed classes, but also an internal examination held on August 17.
The irony is that Mangalore University, to which the college is affiliated, had not issued any circular in respect of a dress code.