Amid a raging debate on whether burqa, worn by Muslim women to cover their face, should be banned in public places, a Kerala educational group has banned face veil in its colleges.

Muslim Educational Society (MES), which runs several colleges in Kerala, issued a circular banning burqas in all schools and colleges run by it. According to reports, many of its educational institutes are in state’s Malappuram district, which has a majority population of Muslims, reports dnaindia.com.

The circular was passed by the Muslim Education Society in Calicut on April 17 and it states that burqas in all schools and colleges under MES will be banned. There is a court order that says any dress with is against the changing society should not be permitted, which includes not just burqa but other kinds of dress which they think is not proper.

The third paragraph in the circular clearly states that any dress that covers the face for the woman should be banned.

Several organisations in Kerala have condemned the circular and said that it goes against religious tenets and sentiments of the community and that MES has to consult various organisations before taking such decisions.

Yesterday (1 May), Shiv Sena triggered a massive row in a controversial editorial of its mouthpiece Saamna where it demanded a burqa ban in public places and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to follow Sri Lanka’s suit, which banned face veils after deadly bomb blasts ripped through the country on Easter Sunday. Calling for the burqa ban, Shiv Sena said in the editorial that when it could be outlawed in ‘Ravan’s Lanka, when will it happen in Ram’s Ayodhya?’

The Uddhav Thackery-led party, which is in alliance government with the BJP in Maharashtra, claimed in the editorial that the need of the hour was to not only ban triple talaq in the country but also the burqa. The editorial argued that those hiding their faces in public could ‘become a threat to national security’ and hence the government needs to ban the burqa in public spaces.

The Sena later issued a clarification stating that the piece might have been the personal opinion of the editor.