After hijab, Mumbai college bans ‘revealing dresses’

Days after banning the hijab, a college in India’s Mumbai has issued a new dress code barring students from wearing torn jeans, t-shirts, and "revealing dresses" on its premises.

In a notice issued by the administration of the Chembur Trombay Education Society's NG Acharya and DK Marathe College, students were asked to wear a "formal and decent" dress while on campus, reports NDTV.

"Students should wear formal and decent dress while on campus. They can wear half shirt or full shirt and trouser. Girls can wear and Indian and western outfit. Students shall not wear any dress which reveals religion or shows cultural disparity. Jeans, t-shirts, revealing dresses and jerseys are not allowed," a notice hanged on the college gate said.

"Hijab, burka, naqab, stoles, caps and badges can be removed by going to common rooms on the ground floor and then only they can move throughout college campus," the notice dated June 27, 2024, said.

Some students claimed that they were unaware of the new dress code and were not allowed to enter the college as they wore jeans and t-shirts.

The college had earlier imposed a ban on the hijab, naqab, burka, stoles, caps, and badges inside the premises, following which the students had moved the Bombay High Court. In their petition, nine girl students said the ban was "arbitrary, unreasonable, bad-in-law and perverse".

A division bench of Justices AS Chandurkar and Rajesh Patil, however, said it was not inclined to interfere in the decision taken by the college and dismissed the petition.

Senior counsel Anil Anturkar, appearing for the college management, said the dress code was for all students belonging to every religion and caste.

The college claimed the decision to ban hijab, naqab, and burka was merely a disciplinary action for the uniform dress code and was not against the Muslim community.