Hijab Row: Visuals also showed teachers being forced to remove burqas in full view of busy public roads.
Controversy over the banning of hijabs in Karnataka schools and colleges continued Tuesday after it emerged that some students at schools in Udupi and Shivamogga district chose not to write their exams because they were refused permission to do so while wearing a hijab, or headscarf.
The students were also made to sit in a separate room from those who did not wear hijabs, a parent whose child studies at a government-run school in Udupi told NDTV.
A district official, however, told news agency ANI that this did not happen.
Another parent alleged their child was threatened with the police if she didn't remove the hijab.
"This was never there before. Our children were made to sit in separate rooms. Yesterday, the teachers shouted at the children... They had never done this before," the parent told NDTV.
"School said 'those in hijab sit outside, those without attend classes'," the parent alleged.
"Our children want to wear the hijab and they want an education. Hindu students wear vermilion... Christian students wear a rosary (so) what is wrong if our children wear the hijab?" the parent asked.
Another parent told NDTV their child - a student of Class 9 in the same school - had worn a hijab for the past three years, and that no complaint had been raised by anyone in that time.
"My daughter was wearing the hijab in class. She was asked to remove it and attend the daily prayer. After the cops threatened her, she was forced to remove the hijab," the parent said.
Another parent also alleged threatening behaviour by school authorities; "... teachers said they would be sent to the cops for not abiding by the rules, so they removed the scarf and went."
"I will not remove the hijab. I used to attend school earlier with the hijab. The school asked us to either remove the hijab or leave. They did not allow us to appear for exams," one student told ANI.
Other parents were quoted by ANI as saying they would not send their children to school only after the Karnataka High Court, which is hearing six students' petition against the ban, rules on the issue.
Meanwhile, some students of a school in Kodagu district staged a protest against the hijab ban.
Karnataka schools - shut for a week over the hijab row - re-opened (up to Class 9) on Monday to disturbing scenes of young girls being forced to "remove that (hijabs)" before attending classes.
Visuals also showed teachers being forced to remove burqas in full view of busy public roads.
Students barred from wearing the hijab have argued there is no law prohibiting them from doing so, and the right to do so is protected under religious freedoms granted by the Constitution.
The row started last month after students at a Udupi college refused to ditch the hijab despite orders from teachers. Six of them then went to the High Court, which continues its hearing today.
Since then it has snowballed into a significant matter, with the Supreme Court also approached.
However, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana said: "We will interfere only at an appropriate time."
With input from ANI