Kashmiri students stopped from classes over hijab in Bengaluru

Kashmiri female students of Bengaluru’s Sri Soubhagya Lalitha College of Nursing alleged they are forced to miss classes after the chairman of the college denied them entry for wearing the hijab and burkha. The college is affiliated with the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences.

According to the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association, which highlighted the issue, the Kashmiri students are denied entry into the classrooms, stopped from attending lectures and practical sessions and also threatened to cancel their admission for their religious attire.

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A week ago, the college chairman stormed into the class and ordered all students wearing hijab or burkha to leave immediately.

When told that there was no such rule in the Constitution over religious attire in educational institutions in India, the college chairman reportedly snapped back, “This is our college, only our rules apply.”

The students were further told that the step was taken after receiving several complaints about the presence of hijab and burkha on the campus.

According to the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association, the chairman allegedly claimed that “hijab and pardah are not allowed for medical students anywhere in the country, not even in Kashmir.”

He reportedly went on to state that “no article or fundamental right is applicable in our college,” and argued that patients might feel “fear” upon seeing students in hijab, a remark the association condemned as an “absurd, Islamophobic stereotype aimed at erasing students’ identity.”

On July 15, JKSA president Nasir Khuehami wrote a letter to the Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah highlighting the blatant discrimination over religious attire and Islamophobic statements made by a higher college official.

J&K Students Association Writes to Karnataka CM @siddaramaiah Over Hijab Ban on Kashmiri Girl Students in Karnataka Nursing College, Seeks Immediate Intervention@CMofKarnataka @ANI @PTI_News @DKShivakumar @BlrCityPolice @osd_cmkarnataka @ians_india@GreaterKashmir @TimesNow pic.twitter.com/tXv3gWdhaw

— J&K Students Association (@JKSTUDENTSASSO) July 15, 2025

“It is heartbreaking and enraging in equal measure that students from a conflict-affected region, who left their homes and came to Karnataka in pursuit of higher education and opportunity, are now being subjected to such humiliation and trauma. The psychological and emotional toll is immeasurable,” the letter read.

“Forcing students to choose between their faith and their future,” he said, “is an unconscionable violation of both law and humanity,” it added, urging the Karnataka government to take swift action against the college.

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