J&K: Students Denied Entry To School For Wearing 'Abaya', Mehbooba Says ‘Our Clothes Under Attack'

School principal Memroz Shafi said that students were allowed to wear long white-coloured Hijab or large dupatta, which is a part of the school uniform but the students came wearing colourful abayas. 

Female students in Srinagar alleged that they were not allowed to enter their school wearing abaya/Representational Image

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Several female students at Vishwa Bharati Higher Secondary School in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar staged a protest against the school administration alleging that they were denied entry to the institute for wearing abaya, adding that they were told to go to a madrassa. “We are told we should go to a Madrassa if we want to wear an Abaya. We were not allowed inside the school," said one of the protesting students, as per a PTI report. 

The students also alleged that the school administration  told them they were "ruining the atmosphere of the school" by wearing 'abaya', a loose-fitting, full-length robe worn by Muslim women. 

Meanwhile, School principal Memroz Shafi said that the students were allowed to wear a long white-coloured Hijab or a large dupatta, which is a part of the school uniform but the students came wearing colourful abayas. 

The students have been told that they can wear abaya from home to school, but they should take it off inside the school premises, the principal said..

"We told them to wear a long white-coloured Hijab or a large dupatta as that is part of the school uniform. They come wearing colourful abayas, with different designs which is not part of the uniform," he said.

The principal said the students should follow a proper dress code in order to maintain decorum in the school.

‘Our Clothes Under Attack': Mehbooba Mufti

Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party led Centre saying the party wants to make this country “Godse's country” and “Jammu and Kashmir has become their laboratory for that.”

Referring to the hijab issue in Karnataka last year, Mufti said “now we are seeing this happening in Kashmir also, we will never accept this and there will be a strong reaction to this incident.”

“It is our individual right to decide what to wear and what not to wear. Don't force us to do anything that is against our religion,” she said.