Weapons found, 2 men held at hijab protest site in Karnataka

The police in Kundapur in Karnataka’s Udupi district have arrested two people for allegedly carrying weapons at a protest over students’ right to wear a hijab at a government college.

Rajab, 41, and Abdul Majid, 32, (who has seven cases registered against him) were part of a group of five persons loitering at the protest site on Friday and are not part of the students’ agitation.

“Two have been arrested, three are absconding. We are trying to trace them. They had one knife and they were not locals. They are from Gangolli. They have been sent to judicial custody. The case is under investigation,” ST Siddalingappa, additional SP of Udupi Police, told news agency ANI.

An NDTV report quoted police as saying that It was currently not clear if the accused have any political affiliations.

The two have been charged with attempted homicide, rioting with a deadly weapon, and criminal conspiracy.

In the past week, college students in the district have protested over their right to wear a hijab and counter-agitations led by those wearing saffron scarves have escalated.

During a protest in Kundapur on Saturday, videos showed some students wearing scarves over their college uniforms and shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ while going to class.

Muslims students have been asked to attend classes without the hijab in order to avoid communal tension.

Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra clarified that students, who are required to wear uniform as per college rules, should “neither wear the hijab nor saffron scarves”.