Udupi: Three more hijab petitioners did not appear for the mathematics exam, which was the first paper in the science stream, here on Saturday. On Friday, two other hijab petitioners and second PU commerce students -- Aliya Assadi and Resham -- from the same college had insisted that they be allowed to write the exam wearing hijab.

The college authorities said Almas AH, Hazra Shifa and Bibi Ayisha from the Women’s Government PU College, Udupi did not arrive at the exam centre at Vidyodaya PU College. Almas had taken her hall ticket on Friday evening from her college, but still skipped the exam, while the other two had not even taken the hall tickets. These three students had not attended the practical exam held on February 28 as the hijab was not allowed inside the examination hall.

Two other students of the Government PU College – Aliya Assadi and Resham – from the commerce stream left the examination centre as they were not ready to remove their hijab and attend the Business Studies paper on Friday. Their classmate Aliya Banu remained absent. With these three science students skipping the exam, all the five hijab petitioners from Udupi have not appeared for second PU exams.

Udupi MLA Raghupathi Bhat, in a tweet, urged Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Primary and Secondary Education Minister B.C. Nagesh to book criminal cases against Assadi and Reshma for creating chaos at the examination centre on Friday.

In response, Ms. Assadi, in her tweet late on Friday said she and Resham have been denied from appearing for exams for wearing hijab. “Again and Again we face disappointment! @RaghupathiBhat had threatened us with criminal cases against us if we go to attend exams tomorrow. What is the crime here? Where is our country headed to!” she tweeted.