The Sri Subrahmanyeshwara First Grade College run by the Sri Kukke Subrahmanya Temple in Karnataka has reintroduced the ban on burqa on its campus disregarding the advice of the Deputy Commissioner against it.
Until a couple of months ago, the aided college in Kukke Subrahmanya Town, about 110 kms from Mangalore, had allowed its 15 Muslim students to enter campus wearing a burqa and remove it in the restroom before attending classes.
But the management decided at a meeting on August 31 to ban the girls from entering the campus wearing a burqa, forcing them to remove it on the roadside outside the college gates.
The move led to widespread protests from several organisations and on October 1 the DC of Dakshina Kannada district, N.S. Channappa Gowda advised the college management to return to its old practice of allowing the girls to remove the burqa in the campus restroom.
The college principal gave in and things returned to normal, but on Sunday last, the management convened an emergency meeting and on Wednesday slapped a notice on him for showing ‘disrespect,’ to it by lifting the burqa ban.
“Based on the order by the management, I have asked the girls not to enter college wearing a burqa,” principal Dinesh Kamath said.
While it is said the principal was issued the notice by temple executive officer, H M Kali, he denied it. But management committee president, Krishna Prasad Madtila defended the ban, saying it was to ensure " equality" on campus.