CFI stirred hijab controversy, FIR filed against its members: K'tka in HC
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Bengaluru: Karnataka government on Thursday informed the High Court bench, which is hearing the case of Hijab ban in educational institutions, that an FIR has been lodged against the members of the Campus Front of India for threatening some teachers in the Government Pre-University Girls College in Udupi district.
The Advocate General, Prabhuling Navadgi, who represents the state in the HC, told the court that it was the CFI that stirred a controversy over Hijab wearing.
He also said he has furnished details relating to the CFI in a sealed cover to the bench. The full bench comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice J M Khazi and Justice Krishna S Dixit is hearing the hijab case. "With regard to the submission made by senior advocate S S Naganand against an organisation, an FIR has been registered," Navadgi told the bench.
On Wednesday, the court had sought to know from the state government the role of the Campus Front of India (CFI). This was after the government PU college in Udupi, which is at the centre of the hijab row in Karnataka, told the Karnataka High Court that the CFI 'instigated' six students to start wearing a hijab to class. The advocate representing the college, senior advocate SS Naganand, also said that a few teachers at the college were allegedly threatened by members of the CFI for not allowing students to wear the hijab inside the classroom, though this information was off the record.
On January 1, six girl students of a college in Udupi attended a press conference held by the CFI in the coastal town protesting against the college authorities denying them entry into classrooms wearing hijab. This was four days after they requested the principal permission to wear hijab in classes, which was not allowed. Till then, students used to wear the headscarf to the campus, but entered the classroom after removing it, college principal Rudre Gowda had said.
"The institution did not have any rule on hijab-wearing since no one used to wear it to the classroom in the last 35 years. The students who came with the demand had the backing of outside forces," Gowda had said.