Some students complained that authorities in Bidar Institute of Medical Sciences (BRIMS) did not allow hijab-clad girls to appear for the BSc Nursing examination on February 10.
Adnan Imtiyaz, a student, alleged that officials had stopped some girls from appearing for the examination. He shared a video clip showing an examiner stopping girls from entering the examination hall. He asks them to remove their hijab if they want to be allowed to appear for the examination.
Atif Ashar, whose niece appeared for the examination, said that as many as 11 students were stopped from entering the hall wearing the head scarf. “While some of them removed the scarf and kept it in their bag before going inside to appear for the examination, at least five students returned without attempting the paper,’’ he said.
There was no examination on February 11. The next paper is on February 10.
BRIMS Director Chandrakant Chillargi denied the allegation that students wearing hijab were not allowed inside the examination hall. The students were stopped for a few minutes outside the hall to enable examiners to check their identity cards and to rule out proxy candidates. Dr. Chillargi said that the staff on exam duty had only asked the girls to produce their Identity cards at the entrance, as it is difficult to recognise students if their faces are covered with head scarves.
Referring to the video clip that was shared on social media, the director said that the examination hall in-charge was asking outsiders, who had accompanied the girls, to leave the campus, and there was no violation of any rule.
He issued a note to mediapersons in the evening stating that all the students were allowed to appear for the examination, and that the allegations made by some persons on social media platforms were false.
Karnataka hijab controversy: Stories behind the story
Mohammad Yusuf Raheem, writer and activist, criticised the college authorities saying they were acting in a hurry. They are acting on oral orders (of the court), whereas they should have waited for an order by the government, based on the oral observation of the court. “In normal circumstances, they take years to follow court orders,” he said. He suspected a ploy to deprive minorities from getting access to education.