Karnataka Hijab Row: High Court to resume hearing plea seeking permission to wear hijab tomorrow

NEW DELHI: The Karnataka High Court will resume hearing the petition of the government pre-university college students in Udupi district seeking permission to wear hijab tomorrow at 2.30 pm. The apex court requested the student community and the public at large to maintain peace and tranquility.

Justice Krishna Dixit started hearing the Karnataka Hijab case by stating, “We will go by reason, by law, not by passion or emotions. We will go by what Constitution says.”

Justice Dixit said, “We cannot see everyday students going on the roads. That's not a happy scene. The international community is also watching.”

He further said, “We are not talking of burqa or entire veil. It is a headscarf. The first submission is that the wearing of the hijab is an essential religious practice of Islam.”

Advocate Devdutt Kamat referred to the Kerala High Court judgment in 2016 that granted permission for Muslim girls to wear Hijab for the All India Pre-Medical Test-[AIPMT] on the condition that they should be present at the examination hall half an hour before the exam for frisking if necessary.

"So if goons are creating a disturbance, it is the duty of the State to ensure that the rights of these girls to go to school are protected." Advocate Kamat said.

He summed up his submissions by saying, wearing hijab is essential practice of Islam; ground of public order will not pass constitutional muster; there is positive duty on state to maintain public order; it failed and then it cannot tells citizens don't exercise Article 25 rights

Karnataka High Court said, "In the case of Sikhs, it has been held an Essential Religious Practice (ERP) by not only Indian but also Canadian and UK courts have held it the same."

Kamat also mentioned how students wearing Hijab were allowed entry into the campus of Government PU College, Kundapura, but made to sit in a separate classroom. Referring to this incident, Kamat sais it is a form of "religious apartheid" and "untouchability is not fully abolished".

Considering the upcoming examination, he further asked to provide interim relief by allowing them to attend classes for now.

The Karnataka government on February 5 ordered banning wearing clothes that disturb equality, integrity and public order.

“A controversial notification has recently been issued by the School Education Department of Karnataka under Section 133(2) of the Karnataka Education Act, 1983. While there is no specific reference to the hijab in the notification, its vague language is being resorted to by certain pre-university schools to single out hijab wearing young girls and to deny to them the right to access education,” the Live Law reported.

Hatred for Muslims has been "normalised" in the country which "no longer celebrates its diversity", alleged National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Tuesday as protests for and against 'hijab' intensified at colleges in parts of Karnataka. He was commenting on a video that has surfaced on social media showing some men sporting saffron scarves heckling a woman in 'hijab' and raising slogans at a college in Karnataka.