At a protest organised at Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, in solidarity with the hijab row, policemen were seen hitting Muslim burqa-clad women with batons (lathis).
A video of the same has made the rounds on Twitter. Police officials can be seen attacking the women going so far as to pull the hijab off of one of the protestors.
As per a report by NDTV, an FIR has been filed by the police against the protesters over the incident that happened on Sunday.
The police have claimed that they knew about 15 Muslim women protesting in the town’s Sani Bazaar road with “anti-government” protesters. The FIR further claimed that female constables who asked the protesters to conclude their demonstration were heckled and were abused by the male men involved in the protest.
One of the accused has been identified as Raees, according to the police complaint, adding the men also threatened the constables.
The matter is currently under investigation.
Background of the hijab row:
Muslim girls of colleges in northern Karnataka were asked to shun their hijab after a group of male students arrived at the colleges, adorning saffron scarves, in a protest against girls being allowed to wear headscarves on the college premises.
Although the rule book of a college suggested that girls are allowed to wear Hijabs on the premises of the institution, the management recently prohibited the girls from covering their heads, following the diktat of the state government.
However, as Hindutva students protested, the controversy raged further, forcing the state to call for a committee to look into the matter and take a call on pre-university college uniforms across the state.
The high court that is hearing a writ petition over the issue filed by a student of a PU college in Udupi has provided no interim relief to the students and has asked them to follow the state’s orders until further notice.
