Mangaluru : BJP MLA and Chairperson of the Government Women’s PU College, Udupi, Raghupathi Bhat on Monday claimed that the college administration had evidences to counter the claims of six girls, who were barred from entering the classrooms last month for wearing the hijab.

“No Muslim girl was wearing hijab in the classrooms. The CCTV camera footage of 45 days proves this,” Bhat told reporters.

He said that the proof would be shared with the Karnataka High Court, which is currently hearing a petition filed by six students.

“I will also present the CCTV footage during the Assembly session,” he said after reviewing the situation at the state-run school in Udupi on Monday where students from Class 9 and 10 were taking preparatory exams.

Terming the situation in Udupi as peaceful, he said, “The girls who attended exams on Monday had removed the hijab. There are around 295 high schools in Udupi. All students are following the High Court’s interim order.”

On the controversy surrounding Udupi PU College, he said,“I have not introduced any new rule or changed the tradition followed by the college. The college has not been allowing hijab for the last 20-25 years. I had warned Muslim students to stick to the rules. Soon after the hijab issue started, some students demanded that saffron stole and turban be allowed too. The college was clear in its stand that only uniforms will be allowed inside the classrooms.”

Some students of the Government Women’s College in Udupi submitted a memorandum to college principal Rudre Gowda S to resume offline classes immediately. Signed by 19 students, the letter has been written nearly a month after the college was closed after the hijab-row snowballed into a massive controversy.

Shilpa, a PU student, told reporters, “The students do not want to sacrifice their future because of the problem created by six students. The six students have been my classmates. They were not wearing hijab inside the classrooms before. We had offline classes just for three months in this academic year. They cooked stories that they wore hijab in the past too.”