Before hijab standoff, an anti-rape protest, faith, political rivalry

Friday, 11 February 2022newsdesk

In October last year, two months before the hijab controversy erupted in Karnataka, at least two students at the forefront of the agitation joined an ABVP protest against a rape in Udupi’s Manipal — and drew the attention of Campus Front of India (CFI), the student organisation affiliated to the radical outfit Popular Front of India (PFI).

New Delhi, 11 February 2022

As per news report of The Indian Express, On December 27, the two girls were among the eight hijab-wearing students of the Government Pre-University College for Girls in Udupi who were asked to leave their classrooms, triggering a standoff that reached the Karnataka High Court and drew global attention. The Indian Express visited Ground Zero of the protests to piece together the sequence of events — and found a blend of political rivalry and students’ resolve for right of choice that sparked subsequent protests in the district’s Kundapura taluk and other parts of the state, where colleges that have for decades permitted students to wear their hijabs suddenly shut the gates on them.

Source - The Indian Express