During the undergraduate English semester examination on 22 December 2025, two UG-3 students wearing hijabs faced targeted scrutiny and discriminatory treatment from a departmental professor acting as an invigilator.
What happened during the examination?
Rupanjana Das, a student of UG-3, Department of English, Jadavpur University, mentioned while speaking to News Ei Samay, “Both students were singled out on suspicion of cheating without supporting evidence, while a similar suspicion was not applied to other candidates present in the examination hall. The invigilator instructed one student to unpin and open her hijab during the examination, without any proper reasoning. When other students objected to this and questioned the appropriateness of the request (to unpin and open the hijab in a public setting), the invigilator asserted her authority on the matter before directing the student to comply in private and stating that it was routine procedure. In private, they were also asked invasive and inappropriate personal questions, including why she wears a hijab, whether she always wears it, whether she removes it while bathing, and whether she continues to wear it in hot weather. These questions were unrelated to the examination, intruded on the student's religious and bodily privacy, and were asked at a time when her academic integrity had already been publicly doubted. Subsequently, the invigilator sought out the second hijab-wearing student (who was sitting in a different exam room) and subjected her to similar scrutiny, calling her away from writing her answers during the last half hour of the examination, causing a significant loss of writing time, and no compensatory time was granted, placing her at an academic disadvantage.”
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Temple of education to a classroom of discrimination
A victim of this incident mentioned while speaking to News Ei Samay, “What happened to me was definitely humiliating and insulting, but what hurt me was such profiling and discrimination happening in Jadavpur University. I, as a hijabi, often face discrimination outside the campus; often, people chant 'JSR' on the streets, looking at me. But we never expected such behaviour from our own professor. Apart from the "inspection", she made Islamophobic remarks on why I wear a hijab, whether I have to wear it all the time, and whether I wear it during summer as well. Such assumptions that I am oppressed and am not wearing my hijab on my own choice are unacceptable, especially when such remarks are coming from the HoD of the department of English.”
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The incident at Jadavpur University raises deeply unsettling questions about the safety, dignity and inclusivity of India’s academic spaces. When classrooms meant to nurture critical thinking and equality become sites of religious profiling and humiliation, the very idea of a “temple of education” stands compromised. Such acts are not isolated lapses of judgement but reflect a wider normalisation of Islamophobia, where personal faith is treated as a marker of suspicion rather than identity. If universities fail to uphold constitutional values of secularism and freedom of conscience, they risk legitimising prejudice under the guise of authority. Addressing such incidents decisively is not just about accountability but about reclaiming campuses as spaces where diversity is respected and learning is free from fear.
