Right wing activists detained for protesting against girls wearing burqa at Surat school

Gandhinagar, Feb 22 (IANS) The Gujarat police on Tuesday detained a dozen right wing activists for allegedly protesting against a group of girls 'wearing burqa' at a school in Surat.

The hijab row, which started from Karnataka, is now extending to other parts of the country, including Gujarat, despite the Supreme Court's direction to keep the status quo.

On Tuesday, nearly a dozen of right-wing members from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Hindu Jagran Manch and the Bajrang Dal tried to create ruckus at P.P. Savani Vidhya Bhavan in Surat.

The members gathered at the gates of the school and started protesting against the burqa clad students.

"We received a call from the control room that members of some right wing outfits have gathered at the school in Kapodra at around 11 a.m. We rushed there and saw that they had not created any ruckus but were protesting at the gates against some girl students, who were wearing black dress. Immediately, we detained the members," M.B. Rathod, Inspector, Kapodra police station told IANS.

The protesters were later released.

"There were around eight to ten girls who worn black dress, however it was not burqa. They have arrived from some other school to appear in 'Prakharta Sodh' examination," added Rathod.

According to sources, soon after being released, the activists once again moved towards the school and were seen chanting slogans. The police however rushed to spot again and "forcibly" evacuated them from the scene.

"We are not here to oppose the girl students, but came here to convince and remind the principal about the Constitution. We are not against any particular outfit of any religion, but they should keep that limited to their homes. We are talking about upholding the constitution," said Dinesh Savaliya from the Hindu Jagran Manch.