BENGALURU/NEW DELHI, Mar 15:
Holding that hijab was not part of the “essential religious practice” in Islamic faith, the Karnataka High Court today upheld the State Government’s ban on wearing the headscarf in educational institutions that had triggered protests by Muslim girl students and also a tense hijab-versus-saffron scarf row.
Hours after the High Court dismissed petitions by some Muslim girl students from two Government colleges in Udupi for removing the hijab curbs in classrooms, one of them challenged the verdict in the Supreme Court. The High Court had also said the prescription of school uniform is only a “reasonable restriction”, Constitutionally permissible which the students cannot object to.
The Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi-led three-Judge full bench also spoke about the possibility of some ‘unseen hands’ behind the hijab row to engineer social unrest and disharmony, and expressed dismay over the issue being blown out of proportion by the powers that be. The other two Judges in the bench were Justice Krishna S Dixit and Justice J M Khazi.
In its 129-page judgement, the court said that school uniform will cease to be a uniform if hijab is also allowed.
The Special Leave Petition(SLP) before the Apex Court contended that the High Court has failed to note that the right to wear a hijab comes under the ambit of ‘expression’ and is thus protected under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.
In Udupi, the petitioner students from two junior colleges in the coastal town put up a brave face, and said they will not go to college without hijab and will fight the case legally till they get “justice”.
“We will fight for justice and our rights.
“The verdict which came today is unconstitutional…The Constitution itself provides us (our rights) to follow my religion and whatever I can wear,” one of the students told a news conference.
While Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai urged everyone to abide by the judgement and maintain peace, saying education was primary, the Muslim students’ body Campus Front of India (CFI) said it is an “alarming sign” that the judiciary interprets religious texts.
Primary and Secondary Education Minister B C Nagesh said efforts will be made to bring the ‘misguided’ Muslim girls to mainstream after the “landmark” verdict.
Several BJP leaders hailed the verdict and said the entire debate on the issue should be seen from the context of women empowerment.
But political parties and religious organisations in Jammu and Kashmir described the verdict as “deeply disappointing”, and said the issue was not only about religion but the freedom to choose.
The High Court said it formulated four questions and answered them accordingly taking a holistic view of the entire matter.
The question for considerations were, whether wearing hijab or head-scarf is a part of “essential religious practice” in Islamic faith protected under Article 25 of the Constitution.
“The answer to this question is that we are of the considered opinion that the wearing of hijab by Muslim women does not form a part of Essential Religious Practice in Islamic faith,” the Chief Justice said while reading out from the order.(PTI)
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