Monitor News Desk
A student has challenged the Karnataka High Court judgment banning the hijab in classrooms.
The order has been challenged in the Supreme Court by Niba Naaz, a student who was not among the five who had originally filed a petition against the hijab ban.
Earlier, Karnataka high court dismissed all petitions saying the hijab is not an essential religious practice. It backed a ban on hijabs in classrooms.
“We are of the considered opinion that wearing of hijab by Muslim women does not form a part of essential religious practice in the Islamic faith,” said the Karnataka High Court, refusing to strike down the state government’s ban.
The hijab row, which started as a protest by six students of the Udupi Pre-University Girl’s College in January, turned into a big crisis and was also discussed at the international levels.
The bench headed by Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice Krishna S. Dixit, and Justice Jaiunnesa Mohiyuddin Khaji heard the matter on a daily basis.
The counsels appearing for the petitioners contended that restrictions on hijab to classrooms is a violation of fundamental and religious rights. There is no legal standing for the School Development Committee (SDC) or College Development Committee (CDMC), they said.
They also argued that wearing of hijab is an integral part of Islam. However, the Advocate General and other counsels appearing for the government argued that wearing of hijab is not an essential part of Islam. They have also stated that the government respects the wearing of the hijab and it had been left to the discretion of SDMC and SDC’s.
