The two, Ofin Ahamed (14) and Safa Mariyam (12), are students of the Government Vocational Higher Secondary School, Payyanakkal, where they study in the ninth and seventh standards respectively. According to their father K Ahamed Koya, an employee of Madhyamam daily, they had participated in cultural contests. When they went to the madrasa later, both were asked to leave for their `crime.'

Though the angry parents later had a talk with the madrasa authorities to sort things out, they insisted that the girls should first give it in writing that they will never again take part in any youth festival. Since the madrasa authorities refused to first issue a notice specifying what was wrong with taking part in youth festivals and refused to readmit the girls, the parents have nowsent a legal notice and are preparing to take the madrasa authorities to court. According to Koya, the madrasa has also disallowed his kids to write this year's annual examination.