In a video message, Police Commissioner N Shashi Kumar said St Aloysius College had confirmed the video was fake and had even filed a complaint with the police over it.
As protests over the hijab controversy have died down in Mangaluru, the city’s police have warned of fake videos making the rounds, which aim to create public discord. Mangaluru Police Commissioner N Shashi Kumar in a video message to the public on Monday, February 14, said the fake videos show clashes between hijab and saffron-clad students at reputable colleges in the city.
“A few days ago, there were incidents of protests between students wearing hijabs and saffron shawls in a few places and colleges. But some malicious elements released videos of such a protest and claimed that it happened at St Aloysius College, Mangaluru and other reputable institutions on Monday, February 14,” Shashi Kumar said. He added that St Aloysius College had confirmed that the video was fake and that the institution had even filed a complaint with the police in this regard. But “until today, the entire student community, different organizations, citizens, parents and leaders of various political parties have cooperated to ensure that peace prevails,” he said.
In his appeal, the police commissioner also asked students not to get “carried away” by these inflammatory videos, and urged the public not to broadcast them again. He said the videos were meant to cause discord, but currently “there is total peace prevailing.”
Watch N Shashi Kumar’s post:
On Monday, the Karnataka government decided that pre-university (PU) and degree colleges across the state would reopen from February 16, after being closed amid the hijab controversy. As protests for and against hijab escalated in different parts of the state and turned violent in some places, the government had declared a public holiday for all high schools and colleges in the state for three days, starting on February 9, then extended until February 16.
However, the Karnataka High Court, in its interim order pending consideration of all hijab row related petitions, had last week requested the state government to reopen educational institutions and barred all students to wear saffron shawls, scarves, hijab and any other flags inside the classroom.
Following the court order, the government had decided to resume classes for high school students up to class 10 from February 14, and for pre-university and diploma colleges thereafter.
Read: Hijab row: PU, University Colleges in Karnataka to reopen from Feb 16
