India, Nov. 5 -- Parents of around 20 students of the St. Anthony Girls' High School in Chembur complained to the education department that their daughters were not allowed to attend classes since they had applied mehndi on their hands. The school responded that it had merely asked the students to wait in the hall since they had failed to follow a few school discipline rules.

In their letter to the education department, parents called the school's actions discriminatory and unfair, prompting the department to ask schools for an explanation and initiate an inquiry into the matter.

The school's written response stated that no student had been treated unfairly. The school maintained that some students were asked to wait in the hall tempora...