Supreme Court gives a split verdict on Karnataka hijab row, ban to continue in schools, colleges

The hijab ban in schools and colleges of the southern state of Karnataka will continueas the Supreme Court of India on Thursday delivered a split verdict on the appeals against a high court decision upholding the state government's order prohibiting the wearing ofheadscarves in classes, and referred the matter to the Chief Justice of India for constituting a larger bench.

The two-judge bench differed on whether to uphold the ban on hijab in educational institutions or not.While Justice Hemant Gupta dismissed the appeals against the March 15 verdict of the Karnataka High Court that had refused to lift the ban and held that hijab is not part of "essential religious practice" in Islamic faith, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia allowed the pleas and observed that it is ultimately a "matter of choice".

"There is divergence of opinion," Justice Gupta, who was heading the bench, said at the outset while pronouncing the verdict on a batch of 26 petitions, reported the news agency PTI.

On March 15, the Karnataka high court had dismissed the petitions filed by a section of Muslim students of the Government Pre-University Girls College in Karnataka's Udupi seeking permission to wear the hijab inside classrooms, ruling it is not a part of the essential religious practice in Islamic faith.

The apex court had reserved its verdict on the pleas on September 22 after hearing arguments in the matter for 10 days.

During the arguments in the top court, a number of counsel appearing for the petitioners had insisted that preventing Muslim girls from wearing the hijab in the classroom will put their education in jeopardy as they might stop attending classes.

The state government's order of February 5, 2022 was challenged by some Muslim girls in the high court.

Karnataka'seducation minister, BC Nagesh, said that the ban will continue until the Supreme Court makes a final decision.

The court was also contesting the Karnataka High Court's verdict upholding the state government's directive to educational institutions to assign uniforms to students. One of the petitions in the Supreme Court stated, "the step-motherly behaviour of government authorities has prevented students from practising their faith and resulted in an unwanted law and order situation."

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The appeal stated, "had vehemently failed to apply its mind and was unable to understand the gravity of the situation as well as the core aspect of the Essential Religious Practices enshrined under Article 25 of the Constitution of India."

The hijab row in Karnataka began in January this year when a government college forbade six females wearing hijabs from attending class. After this incident, several girls protested outside the entry over being denied entry.

Following this, several male students from numerous colleges in the region showed up wearing saffron scarves. With these many protests and agitations, the state government mandated all students to wear uniforms and banned both hijab and scarves until a permanent decision is made.

(With inputs from agencies)

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