Bengaluru: A hijab is not an essential religious practice, the Karnataka High Court said today in a huge setback to students who had challenged a ban on wearing the hijab in class. Five petitions had challenged the ban in court.
The Centre on Tuesday welcomed the Karnataka High Court’s move to dismiss various petitions filed by a section of Muslim students from the Government Pre-University Girls College in Udupi, seeking permission to wear Hijab inside the classroom.
Ahead of the order, the state government banned large gatherings for a week in state capital Bengaluru “to maintain public peace and order”. Mangalore too banned large gatherings from March 15 to 19. Schools and colleges are closed in Udupi today.
The Karnataka High Court had temporarily banned religious clothes, including Hijab and saffron scarves, last month as the controversy snowballed into protests and a face-off between different sections of students.
The petitioners, including a dozen Muslim students, told the court that wearing the hijab was a fundamental right guaranteed under India’s constitution and essential practice of Islam. After eleven days of the hearing, the High Court had reserved its judgment on February 25.
The Karnataka hijab row emerged on January 1, 2022, when some Muslim students of a pre-university college in Karnataka’s Udupi were not allowed to attend classes wearing a hijab, as the dress was against the prescribed norms of the college.
The protests soon spread to other colleges and districts in the state. A section of college students in Karnataka’s Koppa district wore saffron scarves protesting against allowing Muslim girls to wear hijab inside the classroom. Similar protests erupted in Mangaluru colleges on January 6.
After multiple hearings in the Karnatka HC regarding the issue, the three-judge bench issued a verdict on Tuesday, March 15, that hijab was not part of the essential religious practice under Islam. They further said that the restrictions on wearing uniforms are a reasonable restriction and that students cannot object to this.
(VINAYAK)
