In a landmark verdict, the Karnataka high court on Tuesday ruled that hijab is not an essential part of Islam, in a way underlining the state government’s restriction on the use of the head scarf by Muslim girls and women in educational institutions, reported Hindustan Times.
The three-judge bench of chief justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, justice Krishna S Dixit and justice JM Khazi said that taking a holistic view of the entire matter, the bench has formulated a few questions and answered accordingly.
The questions raised were whether wearing hijab is an essential religious practice under the Islamic faith protected under Article 25 of the Indian Constitution; whether the prescription of school uniform is a violation of the student’s rights under articles 19 (A) (freedom of expression) and 21 (right to privacy); and the government order dated February 5, “issued without application of mind with manifestly arbitrary”.
Reading out the verdict, chief justice Awasthi said, “We are of the considered opinion that wearing of a hijab by Muslim women does not form part of the essential religious practice in the Islamic faith. The answer to the second question is that we are of the considered opinion that prescription of a school uniform is only a reasonable restriction, constitutionally permissible, which the students cannot object to. The answer to the third question is that the government has the power to issue an order and no case is made of its invalidation.”
Anas Tanwir, a Supreme Court lawyer, tweeted that students in the contentious Udupi college will contest the order in the Supreme Court. “Met my clients in Hijab matter in Udupi. Moving to SC soon In sha Allah. These girls will In sha Allah continue their education while exercising their rights to wear Hijab. These girls have not lost hope in Courts and Constitution,” read his tweet.
Karnataka education minister BC Nagesh hailed the verdict and tweeted, “I welcome the landmark judgement of Hon’ble Karnataka High Court on School/College uniform Rules. It reiterated that the law of the land is above everything.”
Comments are closed.