Andhra Pradesh: Muslim student refused to sit for exams due to beard

Ongole: An incident of allegedly refusing hall ticket for annual exams to a minority student for growing a beard came to light on Sunday at Podili of Prakasam district.

Sk Faruk of Kanigiri, a second year polytechnic student at Bellamkonda Polytechnic College in Podili, recently undertook a religious tour and further did not shave his beard adopting Islamic custom.

According to reports, Faruk went to college on Saturday to collect his hall ticket to attend annual exams. Faruk alleged that the college principal, M. Vijayalak-shmi ordered him to shave the beard in order to be allowed to write annual exams, slated to start from Sunday. Faruk informed his parents, relatives and friends about this and they rushed to the polytechnic college on Sunday morning and questioned the principal for the alleged bias shown.

Ms Vijayalakshmi refuted the allegations as baseless and said that she suggested to Faruk to concentrate on studies in this exam period, shunning other activities. Faruk’s relatives questioned the cause behind the refusal of hall ticket. Heated arguments followed between the two groups and college staff had to call police to control the situation.

Police led by Podili sub-inspector K. Nagamalleswara Rao inquired about the matter and directed the principal to issue hall ticket to Faruk. Faruk’s relatives demanded an apology to which Ms Vijayalakshmi complied.

The Podili police did not register any complaint as both groups showed reluctance to register a complaint with the police after the matter was resolved.