The police have decided to impose Section 144 of the CrPC within a 200-metre range of all high schools in Udupi district in view of the ongoing hijab-saffron shawl controversy.
The prohibitory orders will be in effect from 6 am on February 14 to 6 pm on February 19, police officials said. Deputy Commissioner Kurma Rao had requested the district superintendent of police to promulgate the order.
The Karnataka government on Saturday also extended the holidays for all pre-university colleges till February 15 as a preventive measure to maintain peace in view of the hijab controversy, even as the high court is scheduled to hear the case related to the headscarf ban in colleges on February 14.
The court has banned all kinds of religious attire till a judgment is passed in the case. Pre-university students are scheduled to have their final exams from April 16. The colleges have remained shut since February 9 after the hijab row erupted. On the other hand, the higher education department has announced the closure of all first-grade and postgraduate colleges as well as universities and technical institutes till February 16.
Meanwhile, the 10-day joint session of the Karnataka legislature will begin from Monday. The Opposition parties are likely to bring up the dress code issue during the session.
Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah has convened a meeting of Congress legislators on Monday, to discuss the party’s strategy for the session.
A day after Udupi BJP MLA K Raghupathi Bhat claimed that he had received threat calls from both local and international numbers after the ‘hijab ban’ snowballed into a controversy, he was provided with an armed guard.
Bhat told media persons, “The police will beef up my security if intelligence reports suggest so. But I am not the one to seek security cover, as I’m not scared of these types of threats.”
Bhat is the president of the college development monitoring committee of Government Girls Pre-University College in Udupi, where the controversy started.