They sent their reports to the Karnataka government. They have said that they do not have powers to act beyond this.

Ayesha's father B. Mohammed told IANS on phone from Mangalore that she was not willing to attend the college without the scarf.

'If the college had insisted before the admission that she cannot wear the scarf to the classroom, we would have tried for admission in some other college. To insist now on not wearing the scarf is unfair,' Mohammed, who runs a small business, said.

Mohammed said he and Ayesha had gone to another college early this week but were told admissions has been closed.

'Her class examinations have begun but she is sitting at home. I hope justice will be done to us,' he said, adding: 'we are worried she may lose a year.'

Mohammed has a son studying in Class 9.

Asked whether he had heard of renowned Islamic scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan and his view that burqa is not part of Islam, Mohammed said he was not aware of that.

'But once the girls attain puberty, it is a practice we follow,' he said.

Wahiduddin Khan told IANS in New Delhi: 'Burqa is not part of Islam. It is a part of culture, the culture that the people of the subcontinent have been following since ages. Nobody can enforce a dress code in the name of Islam. It is categorically un-Islamic.'