Kerala girl goes missing at Manikyadhara falls, search underway
Chikkamagaluru (Karnataka) (PTI): A search operation was launched after a class 10 student from Kerala went missing during a family trip to Manikyadhara Falls in the Chandradrona hill range, police said on Wednesday.
The girl was part of a group of around 40 relatives who had travelled from Palakkad, officials added.
According to police, she went missing at around 5.30 pm on Tuesday while at the falls with her family. The family searched for her until about 8 pm before informing the authorities.
After receiving the report, police and forest department personnel launched a search operation in the area, a senior officer said. The search continued through the night, he added.
Thermal drones were deployed to locate the girl until around 4.30 am.
Disaster management teams joined the operation on Wednesday morning, and the search is ongoing, the officer said.
He noted that the area is usually crowded and expressed hope that the girl would be found soon.
The officer also cited a recent incident in Kodagu district, where a 36-year-old woman from Kerala went missing while trekking in the Tadiandamol hills and was later traced and reunited with her family.
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Karnataka government lifts ban on hijab in classrooms imposed in 2022
Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Wednesday withdrew its 2022 order banning wearing hijab in classrooms and has issued a fresh order permitting students to wear a ‘limited traditional and practice-based symbols’.
According to the Deccan Herald, the preceding BJP government had, in February 2022, banned students from wearing hijab to classrooms, giving rise to a controversy as some Muslim girls were prevented from attending classes since their dress was not in accordance with the uniforms of the institutions. The BJP government also insisted that the girls follow the uniform prescribed by the schools or colleges they were studying in.
Further, in March 2022, the High Court upheld the government order, stating that wearing hijab was not an essential practice in Islam. The Supreme Court, however, delivered a split verdict in October the same year.
The present decision of the state government follows strong objections raised by leaders of the Muslim community when the Congress did not give the Davanagere bypoll ticket to a Muslim candidate.
The leaders reminded the party that the hijab issue remained unresolved although it was three years since the party came to power.
