What happened: On March 15, an Indian-Muslim dentist named Dr.Pervez Mandivala (twt/DrPervezM) shared an incident on his Twitter handle where he wrote how when a gentleman vacated his seat for Mandivala’s wife as she was carrying their infant baby, the commuters insisted to give the place to ‘sar-clad’ ladies intead as she was wearing a hijab. Click here to see the doctor’s tweets describing the incident. Details: Several Twitter users asked Mandivala for proof to which the dentist replied that he did take pictures but doesn’t want to ‘expose faces,’ “I don’t see my wife as a victim; I’m feeling more concerned about the society we are evolving into :(“ he added. According to the dentist, ‘lack of positive dialogue between communities’ has embedded fear and hatred among people. Indians react: A few Indians defended the incident as one user, Sravanthi (twt/sravanthi79) replied to the thread: “Bro it’s not because of hijab. In our society few people just don’t respect anyone and anything,” to which Mandivala said, “My wife was standing anyway ma’am, but what made it feel worse was that the vacated seat was being denied to her and offered to other ladies,” adding that he prays ‘we get done with Islamophobia asap.’ The support: Many Indians condemned the incident as a self-proclaimed Brahmin, Dr.Sadasivam’ Academy (twt/SADA1967) wrote: “Dr Saheb, very very deplorable incident n as a Brahmin myself, I condemn this incident,” continuing to say that for every such instance ‘thousand other people, come in your support.’ Another user, Sampath Babu.J (twt/sampath_INC) tweeted in solidarity with Mandivala, “This hatred is rising more, I don’t know when this will end. But you have our empathies sir. Stay strong.” Why it matters: In the southern state of Karnataka, which is governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, an Indian court has upheld a prohibition on wearing the hijab in classrooms. In a ruling issued on March 15, Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi of the Karnataka High Court stated, “We are of the considered judgement that wearing of hijab by Muslim women does not form a part of important religious practise.”