Anti-hijab protest at Surat school: 12 VHP persons detained

Surat: Police has detained around 12 Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activists on Tuesday after they gathered at a school in Surat in Gujarat, protesting against Muslim girls wearing hijab inside the institution, PTI reported citing police.

Police said that the girls who wore hijab were not students of the school, but candidates of a competitive examination and the school was a venue.

The activists donning saffron scarves protested at the school grounds while the exam was going on. The principal of the institution informed the police, and they rushed to the spot and apprehended them, police said.

Police added that the exam was not disturbed.

Meanwhile, the protesters claimed that the girls were attending the classes in the school wearing the headwear. They claimed that it is part of a conspiracy to turn Gujarat into Shaheen Baug, referring to the protest site in Delhi where Muslims gathered against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Surat Congress leader Aslam Cyclewala reacted to the incident that certain factions are intentionally trying to create disturbance to destroy peace in the state. It is a conspiracy by certain right-wing outfits, he added.

The hijab issue had started in the Udupi district of Karnataka. When Muslim girls protested against the ban imposed on the headwear by a college in the Udupi district in the state, right-wing groups fuelled masses of students to hold demonstrations against hijab, wearing saffron shawls and turbans. Faceoffs happened between saffron-clad demonstrators and hijab worn girls. On February 5, the Karnataka government ordered a ban on clothes- related to religions or those harms the peace and harmony of the society- inside educational institutions. When the Muslim girls approached the state High Court, it pronounced an interim ban on the clothes till it reached a final judgement. Supreme Court refused to intervene in the issue at the moment.