Female candidate denies permission to UGC-NET exam for wearing 'Hijab'

New Delhi: Umaiyah Khan, an MBA student from Delhi's Jamia Milia Islamia University has claimed that she was not allowed to set for a competitive exam because she wore hijab.

She further claimed that she was asked to take her hijab off when she reached the centre for the UGC-NET for exam in Rohini.

Sharing her ordeal on Twitter, Khan wrote, "It clearly says in Constitution that we are free to follow any religion yet these chauvinistic government servants didn't let me appear in my NET December 20 exam because I was convincing them to let me cover my head and it's in my religion."

Khan reportedly said that, "I went for the NET exam last week in Rohini. I reached the exam centre but did not get the permission to sit for the exam and the reason was Hijab. The invigilators did not allow me to sit for the exam. I even requested the senior officials but was not allowed."

She also added, "I have shown all my identities. Yet, they ordered that I remove my hijab, then sit for the exam. I cannot do that because this is my religion, I cannot remove it. I requested them to allow me but they did not let me."

Khan said that she was willing to be frisked privately but the authorities did not let keep her hijab on. "They asked me to take off my hijab, despite me telling them they could frisk me privately. I asked them to show me the guidelines yet I wasn't allowed to write the exam."

Dr Amirul Hasan Ansari, honorary director and professor, Jamia Millia Islamia said he has written to the UGC in this regard. An official from the National Testing Agency, which conducts the exam, said, "There are official guidelines but religious sentiments should not be hurt."

The Islamic headdress has been in the news with another woman in Goa being barred from appearing for the NET exam last week. 24-year-old Safina Khan Soudagar refused to sit for the exam because she was wearing a hijab on December 18. While, she was standing in the queue to enter her examination hall in Panaji, the authorities present there asked her to take off her hijab.