New Delhi, Sep 22 (UNI) The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its order on a batch of petitions challenging the Karnataka High Court order upholding the ban on wearing Hijab in educational institutions.
A two-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Hemant Gupta, also comprising Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, reserved its order after hearing from all the parties -- petitioners, Karnataka government -- for 10 days.
The Karnataka government had earlier told the Supreme Court that no one was wearing Hijab since 2004 and in 2022, a movement was started by Popular Front of India (PFI) on social media to start wearing Hijab.
“Since 2004 no one was wearing Hijab and suddenly in December 2021, it started. In 2022, a movement was started by Popular Front of India (PFI) on social media to start wearing Hijab. It’s not a spontaneous act of some students, the students were a part of a larger conspiracy, the students were acting on instructions," the Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, senior lawyer appearing for the Karnataka government had told the Supreme Court.
The SG Mehta said that Hijab is not an essential religious practice. "What is the purpose of Uniform? Uniform is for uniformity and equality. When you want to cross that threshold, your test is also on a high threshold," the SG told the bench.
Mehta said that he is not criticising any community. In some countries, women are not allowed to drive. In Iran, there is a lady pilot but her husband has to drive her from the house, he added.
The SG Mehta said that there are countries which are Constitutionally Islamic in nature, even there women are protesting against Hijab.
The High Court of Karnataka had passed a judgment on March 15, this year, dismissing the petition filed by a group of Muslim girl students against the Pre University (PU) government college for denying them entry while wearing Hijab.
The High Court bench led by Chief Justice Rituraj Awasthi, while dismissing the petitions, in its verdict stated that the practice of Hijab is not an essential practice under Islam and thus does not fall within the ambit of Article 25 of the Constitution of India.
The Karnataka High Court had also held that prescription of school uniform is only a reasonable restriction, which is constitutionally permissible which the students cannot object to and stated that the government had the power to issue such notification and that no case was made out against the government notification.
After that various petitions had been filed before the Supreme Court challenging the March 15, 2022, judgment passed by the Karnataka HC, upholding the State Government's order of February 05, 2022, which has effectively prohibited petitioners, and other such female Muslim students from wearing the headscarf in their PU colleges.
The petitioners before the Supreme Court argued that the Karnataka High Court order should be set aside and students should be allowed to wear Hijab in educational institutions.
UNI SM GK