Janivara and hijab row: KEA to turn down demand by 3 students for re-exam in all subjects

Three students who were made to remove their janivara (sacred thread) during the recent Physics Common Entrance Test (CET-2026), have rejected the Karnataka Examination Authority’s (KEA) offer to hold a re-examination for the subject. 

Instead they have demanded that a re-examination be held for all four subjects and the best of the two scores be considered for their ranking. However, top sources in the Higher Education Department said KEA has turned down this demand. 

On the first day of CET-2026 Physics examination, on April 23, 2026, during the frisking process, the staff at the Krupanidhi Pre-University College examination centre in Bengaluru allegedly forced three students to remove their janivara. Another student went through the same in Chikkaballapura, while another student who refused to remove her hijab returned home without writing the examination in the same district. 

The government constituted an investigation committee headed by the concerned district’s Deputy Commissioners. Staffers at Krupanidhi College were suspended. Higher Education Minister M. C. Sudhakar offered to hold a re-examination of the Physics paper for the five students. 

“None of the students involved in the janivara issue have filed a petition with the government or the KEA seeking a re-examination. On the other hand, the parents of the student involved in the hijab row have written a letter to the KEA seeking help for their daughter, who did not take the Physics exam,” a senior official said. 

Notices were issued to the five students seeking their opinion on the re-exam. While the student who was forced to remove janivara in Chikkaballapur did not respond, three students from Bengaluru demanded a re-exam in all subjects, which has now been turned down by KEA. All four of these students removed their janivara and wrote the exam. 

The girl student, who did not write the Physics paper as she returned home refusing to remove her hijab and has now sought a re-exam for the paper, has reportedly said that she would abide by the KEA’s decision. Ruling out a re-examination, Dr. Sudhakar told The Hindu that such a question did not arise as no student had sought a re-exam before the KEA.