“It’s a secular country and I must fight for my constitutional rights. We are facing so much hatred from the college administration, our own lecturers and so many others. It is mentally disturbing,” says 17-year-old Aliya Ashadi, one of the eight students protesting against the hijab ban in classrooms at the Government Women’s Pre University (PU) College in Karnataka’s Udupi district. Ashadi and fellow students have once again reached out to the district collector, who has said that the matter will be resolved soon.

“We have been informed that action will be taken soon. But the same was said two weeks back too and nothing happened,” Ashadi adds, in a phone interview with Mid-day Online.