Karnataka: Amid Hijab Row, Six-Year-Old Sikh Boy 'Denied School Admission' For Wearing Patka

"This is the school management's knee-jerk reaction to Karnataka High Court's interim order on wearing of hijab (scarf) inside the classrooms," noted District Child Welfare Committee chairman

Image for representational purpose | Getty

New Delhi: Amid the raging hijab controversy in Karnataka, another incident has come to light in the state in which a private school reportedly denied admission to a six-year-old boy belonging to the Sikh community because he was wearing a 'patka' or turban.

The District Child Welfare Committee (CWC) will be directing Childline to submit a report on a private school in Mangaluru, according to the publication Deccan Herald.

CWC chairman Rennie D'Souza told the publication that students from the Sikh community were allowed to wear 'patka' and 'kara' (steel bangle or bracelet).

“This is the school management's knee-jerk reaction to Karnataka High Court's interim order on wearing hijab (scarf) inside the classrooms," he said.

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On Wednesday, the high court noted that the students will wear the uniform prescribed by the schools and colleges until the disposal of the case.

Rashtriya Sikh Sangat which attempted to intervene in the issue has been told that the school management will take a final decision (on admitting the student) on February 28.

Meanwhile, a Sikh girl has been asked by her college to remove her turban following the Karnataka High Court’s interim order on the Hijab row, according to a PTI report.

The College authorities said they informed the students about the Court order when the educational institution reopened on February 16.

In a visit to the college, the deputy director of pre-university education who found a group of girls in hijab informed them about the Court order and asked them to abide by it.

Soon the girls demanded that no girls including the Sikh should be allowed to wear religious symbols. When the college got in touch with the Sikh girl’s father informing him about the court order and the need to abide by it.

According to PTI sources, the girl’s family is not going to budge on the issue and that their daughter will not remove the turban. They are seeking legal opinion since High Court and the government order does not mention the Sikh turban.