Himalayan News Service

Ranchi, July 19:

Taking a leaf out of Bollywood films, many love-struck girl students in Jamshedpur are cloaking themselves in burqas to sneak out of college to meet their boyfriends — leaving the authorities fuming! The girls, afraid of being spotted and rebuked for bunking classes to go on dates, usually rent the burqas — a cloak traditionally worn by Muslim women — from shopkeepers. Hidden behind a veil from head to toe, they freely meet their boyfriends in parks, cinema halls and other places. So much so that the Jamshedpur Women’s College administration and police in this Jharkhand city are now making a concerted effort to catch such girls. “There are reports that girls bunk classes and go on dates wearing burqas. This is disturbing,” said Shukla Mohanty, principal of the college. “We have decided to rusticate girls found meeting their boyfriends wearing burqas and bunking classes. We have also appealed to parents to cooperate in the drive.”

The college administration has even sought police help to check the trend. Many girls reportedly use mobile phones inside the college to contact their boyfriends. The mobiles are concealed under their cloaks. “We have received some complaints related to the use of burqas by college girls,” said Sangeet Kumari, the deputy superintendent of police. She said shopkeepers had been warned against renting out burqas to girls. A shopkeeper in the Bishtupur area said on condition of anonymity: “If we rent out each burqa for Rs 100, we earn anything between Rs 300 and Rs 1,000 a day. It’s good business. But we have to be on the alert about the police!”