The Dharma Samaj College in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh city has banned the entry of students wearing hijabs or any clothing other than the “prescribed uniform,” The Times of India reported on Thursday.

The college administration issued the directives in a notice dated February 17, two days after a group of students wearing saffron scarves demanded a ban on hijab in the campus.

Raj Kumar Verma, the principal of the college said the directives had been issued to “maintain discipline”. Verma said that students whose faces are covered will not be allowed inside the college.

“…Some students were recently spotted wearing hijabs and the burqa on campus,” The Times of India quoted him as saying. The principal added that saffron shawls will not be permitted in the college either.

The controversy on wearing hijab in educational institutions sparked off last month after a group of students of the Government Women’s Pre-University College in Kundapur town of Udupi were not allowed to attend classes for being dressed in the headscarf. The students started a protest against the college’s decision.

Amid similar protests in other parts of the state, the Karnataka government, on February 5, passed an order banning clothes that “disturb equality, integrity and public order”. In an interim order on February 10, a three-judge bench of the High Court barred the students in Karnataka from wearing “religious clothes” in schools and colleges until further orders.

The court is currently hearing a batch of petitions on whether to allow hijabs in schools and colleges.

Earlier this month, Hindu students and mobs of men have also protested against Muslim women wearing hijabs to educational institutes at several places in Karnataka. At some colleges, Muslim students have been heckled, while in another case some men climbed up a flagpole to plant a saffron flag and broke into classroom

Students let in after talks at Andhra college

Students of the Andhra Loyola College in Vijayawada city have said they were stopped at the gate on Thursday as they were wearing burqas and hijabs, reported the Hindustan Times.

One of the students said that GAP Kishore, the principal of the college, asked them why they were dressed in the attire when they attend classes wearing the uniform.

The students then informed their parents and District Collector J Nivas that they had been stopped at the college gate. As the parents started a protest, state education officials and the police spoke to the college management on Nivas’ directions.

The principal then said that the matter had been resolved on the basis of the district collector’s instructions. He said that Muslim students can attend classes wearing their “traditional” dress.

In a statement issued later, Kishore said the students usually change into the uniform before attending classes. He said that on Thursday, the students were late by a few minutes and requested to be allowed to attend class in hijabs and burqas, but he asked them to change into their uniform.