Wish to finish hearing Hijab case this week: Karnataka High Court

BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday said it wishes to dispose of the Hijab related case this week itself and sought the cooperation of all the parties involved.

As soon as the court proceedings began, a lawyer appearing for the petitioner girls requested the full bench of the Karnataka High Court for some relaxation to the Muslim girls who wish to appear in the schools and colleges with Hijab. They had moved the court against the hijab ban.

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The full bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice J M Khazi and Justice Krishna M Dixit is hearing a batch of petitions by the girls seeking permission to wear Hijab inside the classroom. The Chief Justice said, "We want to finish this case this week itself. Make all endeavours to finish this case by the end of this week."

The Karnataka government on Tuesday told the High Court that there is no restriction on wearing Hijab in India with reasonable restrictions subject to institutional discipline. Countering the petitioner Muslim girls from Udupi district, who challenged the restriction on Hijab inside the educational institutions, Karnataka Advocate General Prabhuling Navadgi said the right to wear the headscarf falls under the category of 19(1)(A) and not Article 25 as has been argued by the petitioners.

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On January one, six girl students of a college in Udupi attended a press conference held by the Campus Front of India (CFI) in the coastal town protesting against the college authorities denying them entry into classrooms wearing hijab. This was four days after they requested the principal permission to wear hijab in classes which was not allowed.

Till then, students used to wear the headscarf to the campus, but entered the classroom after removing it, college principal Rudre Gowda had said. "The institution did not have any rule on hijab-wearing as such and since no one used to wear it to the classroom in the last 35 years. The students who came with the demand had the backing of outside forces," Gowda had said.