Srinagar, 15 July

The Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA) on Tuesday wrote to State Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, seeking his immediate intervention in an incident of alleged religious discrimination faced by Kashmiri female students wearing a hijab at a nursing college in Bengaluru.

Students who wear the hijab or burkha, have reportedly been barred from attending classes and threatened with expulsion by the management of Sri Soubhagya Lalitha College of Nursing, affiliated with the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS).

In its letter, the Association expressed deep anguish over the harassment and humiliation allegedly inflicted upon the students, who were denied entry into classrooms and practical sessions for the past several days.

"These Kashmiri female students have been systematically targeted, humiliated, and denied their fundamental right to education solely because they choose to wear the burkha or abaya, an expression of modesty, dignity, and identity rooted deeply in their religious and personal beliefs," the letter stated.

National Convenor of the Association, Nasir Khuehami, said that the college Chairman stormed into a classroom and ordered hijab-wearing students to leave immediately. When the students asked for clarification based on this directive, they were reportedly told, "This is our college; only our rules apply."

The chairman and principal allegedly threatened to terminate the students and withhold their academic records if they continued to wear their religious attire. The students were warned that they would not be permitted inside the college unless they removed their hijabs, despite no official or legal policy existing to support such a ban.

Calling it "absurd, Islamophobic stereotypes," Khuehami condemned the use of such discriminatory practices and language, noting that this is a "direct and dangerous violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution."

The Association demanded that the Chief Minister take swift and decisive action. "These young women must be allowed to resume their education without any coercion to compromise their religious beliefs.