After the Holi holiday, the Supreme Court said it will consider listing an appeal against the Karnataka High Court’s decision upholding the prohibition on wearing hijab in educational institutions in the southern state.
“Others also mentioned,” Chief Justice of India N V Ramana informed senior attorney Sanjay Hegde, who had requested an expedited listing. Let’s see what happens. “We’ll list after our vacation.” Starting Thursday, the Supreme Court will be off for three days for Holi and will reconvene on March 21.
Hegde requested if the court would consider scheduling it for March 21, citing the fact that examinations would begin soon and the students involved will have to sit for them. “Mr. Hegde, give us time,” CJI Ramana added. We’ll have to wait and see. We’ll make a statement about it.”
Petitioners moved to Supreme Court after Karnataka High Court dismissed their plea
A full bench of the Karnataka High Court dismissed a batch of petitions filed by Muslim girls studying in pre-university colleges in Udupi seeking the right to wear hijabs in classrooms, stating that wearing the hijab is not an essential religious practice in Islam and that freedom of religion under Article 25 of the Constitution is subject to reasonable restrictions.
The high court also upheld a state decree issued on February 5 that suggested that wearing hijabs in government colleges where uniforms are required can be prohibited, ruling that such restrictions are “constitutionally permissible.”
The full bench stated in the operative portion of its judgment read out by Karnataka Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, “We are of the considered conclusion that the wearing of the hijab by Muslim women does not constitute an essential religious practice in the Islamic religion.”
The detailed order noted, “At most, the practice of wearing this garment may have something to do with culture but certainly not with religion.” Before passing the decision, the court stated that it had consulted religious sources, including the Quran.
“We are of the considered conclusion that the prescription of a school uniform is a fair and constitutionally admissible restriction to which the children cannot object,” Justice Krishna S Dixit and Justice J M Khazi remarked on behalf of the complete bench.
The complete court stated, “We are of the considered judgment that the government has the power to issue the impugned government order of February 5, 2022, and there is no cause made out for its invalidation.”
The court also ruled that there is no basis for taking disciplinary action against Udupi government college officials for prohibiting girls from wearing the hijab in class and demanded a “quick and effective” police investigation into the alleged role of “unseen hands” who may have been “at work to engineer social unrest and disharmony” in the state over the issue.
A Muslim student from Karnataka approached the Supreme Court hours after the HC delivered its 129-page judgment on the issue, which had sparked protests in parts of the state last month, claiming the court had “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.”