Religious organisation Ramkrishna Ashram on Saturday said that the ongoing Hijab ban controversy in Karnataka was not in the interest of peace and harmony in the society.

In a press note, Bhaveshanand, one of the seers associated with the Ramkrishna Ashram in Karnataka’s Karwar city said that an “unnecessary discussion” was going on about the dress code of Muslim girls in schools and colleges.

“I am pained to witness a raging controversy in this regard at different levels of the society,” he said in a press release.

Bhaveshanand also expressed solidarity to Senior Advocate Devadatt Kamat, who is appearing on behalf of the women who have filed a petition in the Karnataka High Court for securing their right to wear hijab in educational institutions.

Kamat was targeted by social media users for citing Islamic scriptures in his arguments in the court, according to NDTV.

“I am more pained to observe that the name of Shri Devadatt Kamat is being dragged in this controversy,” he had said.

“Some elements are trying to brand him as supporting a cause against Hindu Religion. This perception is absolutely uncalled for and baseless. A lawyer representing a client in the court has to do his duty and justice to his client’s cause...It cannot be branded as a cause against the Hindu Religion.”

The seer said Kamat is a devout follower of the Shri Ramakrishna-Vivekanand philosophy and a devotee of the ashram.

Over the past few days, Hindu students and mobs of men, often wearing saffron scarves, have protested against Muslim women wearing hijabs to educational institutes at several places in Karnataka. They heckled Muslim students, broke into classrooms, and in one case, climbed up a flagpole to put up a saffron flag.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka High Court has directed students to not wear “religious clothes” till an order is passed on whether students should be allowed to cover their heads in hijabs in educational institutions.

The order by the court came after students of the Government Women’s Pre-University College in Kundapura town of Udupi have filed a petition after they were not allowed to attend classes for being dressed in hijab.

Several groups and individuals, including Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, have also condemned the hijab ban.