Heckled by group in saffron scarves, burqa-clad student stands her ground

A burqa-clad student at a pre-university college in Karnataka's Mandya district was on Tuesday allegedly heckled by a group as educational institutions across the state witnessed clashes over the hijab row.

The confrontation was captured on camera and the video has since gone viral on social media and featured on various TV news channels. In the purported video, the girl is seen walking towards the college after parking her two-wheeler when some saffron scarves-clad students, holding a procession of sorts, charge towards her, screaming "Jai Shri Ram". Unintimidated, she screams "Allah hu Akbar" back at them.

Later, college officials seem to escort the girl away from the protesters.

She is heard screaming: "Who gave them the rights to ask me to remove my burqa?"

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HT cannot independently verify the authenticity of the video.

Later, speaking to NDTV, the second-year Commerce student said, "I was not worried. When I entered the college they were not allowing me just because I was wearing the burqa."

"They started shouting Jai Shri Ram. So I started screaming Allah hu Akbar. The principal and lecturers supported and protected me," the student, identified by the channel as Muskan, added.

The incident comes on a day when clashes were seen across several educational institutions in the state over the hijab row. The hijab controversy erupted in January when six Muslim girls at the government pre-university college in Udupi were denied entry to classrooms after they started wearing headscarves.

The issue has since escalated, with several other high schools seeing protests by girls wearing hijabs, students wearing saffron scarfs, and Dalit students wearing blue scarfs in solidarity with the hijab-wearing girls. So far, protests have been reported from seven schools in Udupi, including two private schools.