Mangalore: Even as the head scarf row is still fresh in public  minds, reports state that the management of the Vivekananda Vidyavardhaka Sangha (VVS), Puttur, which runs several institutions, has enforced  a new rule making it mandatory for its women students, women teachers and staff to wear bangles and  sport bindi on campus.

The VVS board  is learnt to have  circulated a notice directing the heads of its institutions to ensure the decision is enforced strictly and are aimed at ensuring discipline in the campus. Though uniform rules are mandatory in the VVS institutions, bangles and tilaks are an addition.

Already, the decision has invited criticism. Federation of Rationalists Associations of India President Narendra Nayak has strongly condemned the rule and added  this may even lead to Christian institutions enforcing their own rules.

Shameera Jahan, deputy coordinator of the women’s wing of Jamaate-Islami Hind, has described the new rule  as an attack on religious freedom.