Hijab Ban: Rights groups urge Supreme Court to stay Karnataka High Court order

NEW DELHI: Women and civil rights groups have appealed to the Supreme Court to stay the Karnataka High Court order on hijab, saying it will have far-reaching negative impact on the safety, dignity and education of Muslim girls. They also asked college development committees in Karnataka to allow girls and women to wear hijab, along with uniform, just as Sikh boys and men can wear turbans and Hindus threads, “bindis”, tilaks and apply vermilion.

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday said hijab is not part of the essential religious practice in Islamic faith and upheld the ban against the headscarf in educational institutions in the state by dismissing pleas from Muslim girls, seeking nod to wear hijab in classrooms.

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Reacting to it, civil rights groups like the All-India Progressive Women's Association, Saheli Women's Resource Centre, National Federation of Indian Women, Bebaak Collective and activists like Kaneez Fathima and Smita Sharma appealed to Supreme Court to stay the HC verdict. "We, the undersigned organisations working for women's rights and democratic rights, note that the Supreme Court is already apprised of the issue. We are confident that the Supreme Court will protect hijab-wearing Muslim girls and women from discrimination and exclusion in the name of school or college uniforms," they said in a statement.

The Karnataka HC judgment recognises that CDCs of colleges have a right to make decisions regarding uniform. In Karnataka itself, many colleges have made additions to their rules, specifying that hijab could be worn along with uniform, the statement said. "Likewise, we appeal to all CDCs in Karnataka to allow girls and women to wear hijab along with uniform, just as Sikh boys and men can wear turbans, and Hindus can wear bindis, tilaks, threads, sindoor etc," it said.

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"We take this opportunity to remind the CDCs that not a single college in Karnataka originally had any rule banning the wearing of hijab. In fact, one college rule book actually specified that students could wear hijab conforming to the colour of the uniform. So, it was not hijab wearing girls who defied the prescribed uniform," it said.

They appealed to the Supreme Court to issue an immediate stay on the Karnataka HC order, saying this order will have a far-reaching negative impact on the safety, dignity and right to education of Muslim girls and women. "We point out that even the interim order of the Karnataka HC had resulted in not only Muslim girl students but even Muslim women teachers being prohibited from entering school/college grounds. The order became a pretext for publicly humiliating Muslim girls and women by demanding that they strip off their hijabs publicly at school/college gates as a condition for entrance," they said.