Karnataka hijab ban: A bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia is expected to pass judgment on pleas against the Karnataka High Court’s decision refusing to lift the ban on hijab in the state.
Karnataka hijab ban: The Supreme Court is set to pronounce a decision on the highly controversial ban on the hijab, headscarves are worn by Muslim women, in educational institutions in Karnataka on Thursday.
A bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia is expected to pass judgment on pleas against Karnataka High Court’s decision refusing to lift the ban on hijab in the state.
On March 15, the 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 the Islamic faith.
During the arguments in the apex court, a number of the counsel appearing for the petitioners had insisted that preventing Muslim girls from wearing the hijab to the classroom will put their education in jeopardy as they might stop attending classes.
Counsel for the petitioners had argued on various aspects, including on the state government’s February 5, 2022 order which banned wearing clothes that disturb equality, integrity, and public order in schools and colleges.
Some advocates had also argued that the matter be referred to a five-judge constitution bench. On the other hand, the counsel appearing for the state had argued that the Karnataka government order that kicked up a row over hijab was “religion-neutral”.
Insisting that the agitation in support of wearing hijab in educational institutions was not a “spontaneous act” by a few individuals, the state’s counsel had argued in the apex court that the government would have been “guilty of dereliction of constitutional duty” if it had not acted the way it did.
The state government’s order of February 5, 2022, was challenged by some Muslim girls in the high court. Several pleas have been filed in the apex court challenging the high court verdict.
News Sources – India Tv News
