Karnataka hijab row Highlights: HC hearing to continue tomorrow; court dismisses plea filed by one

Udupi, Karnataka Hijab Row News Highlights, Bangalore Today Updates, 17 Feb: The court said it will resume hearing the pleas on Friday, after state advocate general Prabhuling Navadgi sought time to respond to the petitions.

Students sit in protest after being denied entry while wearing hijab, outside a college campus, in Chikmagalur, Wednesday

Karnataka Hijab Controversy News Highlights: The Karnataka High Court Thursday adjourned hearing in petitions filed by Muslim girls studying in government pre-university colleges in Udupi against the government ban on Hijabs in classrooms. The court will resume hearing the pleas on Friday, after state advocate general Prabhuling Navadgi sought time to respond to the petitions. The AG told the court that he was awaiting some orders from the state government. The full bench of the High Court remarked that the state can modify its government order. The court also dismissed one of the petitions filed by a social activist saying: “We will dismiss this petition. It is not maintainable. We will dismiss your petition with costs. You are testing our nerves.”

Karnataka on Thursday reported 1,579 fresh cases of Coronavirus and 23 fatalities, taking the tally to 39,33,115 and toll to 39,738. There were 5,079 discharges, pushing the total number of recoveries to 38,73,580, a Health bulletin said.

Meanwhile, Congress legislators are spending the night inside Karnataka Legislative Assembly and Council on Thursday, demanding the sacking of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa and also that he be booked for sedition regarding his statement about the national flag.

Hijab row: Confusion over HC order continues to haunt students, protests in several places Students wearing hijab continued to be denied entry to colleges across Karnataka despite the state higher education minister clarifying that the Karnataka High Court’s interim order was not applicable for graduate (or degree) students.

Earlier this week, Higher Education Minister CN Ashwath Narayan had said students can wear hijab if they wished as all the colleges that come under higher education department may not follow the dress code. Colleges in Karnataka generally do not have a dress code.

K’taka govt bans Hijab, saffron scarves in schools run by minority welfare department The Karnataka government on Thursday ordered that the students studying in schools managed by the minority welfare department including the Maulana Azad Model English Medium schools in the state should not wear saffron scarves, Hijab or any religious flags.

A circular issued by Major Manivannan P, secretary in the department of minority welfare, Hajj and Wakf Department, said the Karnataka High Court has in its interim order restrained all the students regardless of their religion or faith from wearing saffron shawls, scarves, Hijab, religious flags or the like within the classroom, until further orders.

Bommai, BSY meet protesting Cong leaders Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, former CM BS Yediyurappa and other BJP leaders met Congress leaders who are staging an overnight protest in Vidhana Soudha.

Cong leaders stage protest in Vidhana Soudha

During the protest at Vidhana Soudha, Senior Congress Siddaramaiah said that the party will continue its protest till minister KS Eshwarappa is sacked. State party chief DK Shivakumar said that no action has been taken against the minister for “disrespecting” the national flag. Congress legislators spend the night inside Karnataka Assembly demanding the sacking of Panchayat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa and also that he be booked for sedition regarding his statement about the National Flag.

1,579 new Covid cases, 23 deaths in Karnataka Karnataka on Thursday reported 1,579 fresh cases of Coronavirus and 23 fatalities, taking the tally to 39,33,115 and toll to 39,738. There were 5,079 discharges, pushing the total number of recoveries to 38,73,580, a Health bulletin said.

Of the new cases, 769 were from Bengaluru Urban that saw 1,889 people being discharged and 7 virus-related deaths. The total number of active cases across the state is now 19,761.

While the positivity rate for the day stood at 1.74 per cent, the case fatality rate (CFR) was 1.45 per cent.

Cong legislators to spend night in K’taka legislature demanding minister’s dismissal Congress legislators will spend the night inside Karnataka Legislative Assembly and Council on Thursday, demanding the sacking of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa and also that he be booked for sedition regarding his statement about the national flag.

This came even as protests by the party legislators rocked the proceedings in both houses for the second consecutive day.

Congress members stayed back in the assembly, even after it was adjourned for the day.