Protests erupt after students wearing hijab were not admitted to a public high school in India’s Karnataka state. Hundreds of students at Aliah University in Kolkata protested against the headscarf ban in Karnataka. The students took the matter to the state supreme court. While education is suspended for 3 days in schools after the increasing protests and occasional clashes in the state, the court will decide whether to cancel the ban after hearing the students’ demands.
“It is terrible that girls are not allowed to go to school with a headscarf. The objectification of women through their revealing or covered clothing continues.” Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai shared on her Twitter account. She called on Indian leaders to “stop marginalizing Muslim women”.
In Karnataka, where 12 percent of the population is Muslim and led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), local government advocates enforcing the ban. Opposition parties and numerous non-governmental organizations accuse the BJP government of discriminating against the minority Muslim population.