Karnataka HC Dismisses Pleas Challenging Hijab Ban In Educational Institutions

The High Court heard the plea of a section of girls from Udupi who prayed that they should be allowed to wear Hijab even inside classrooms along with the school uniform as it was part of their faith.

Thousands of students from schools, colleges and universities, men and women from various sections of the society took to the city streets to protest against the row over the 'hijab' controversy in Karnataka. (Getty Images)ab' controversy in Karnataka. (Representative Photo/Getty Images)

New Delhi:  The Karnataka High Court pronounced a verdict on the Hijab ban issue today. The court hearing pleas filed by a section of girls from Udupi district demanding to wear Hijab inside classrooms and educational premises was dismissed by the court. 

Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi pronounced the verdict over the issue and dismissed all petitions challenging ban on Hijab in educational institutions.

According to a report by the LIVE LAW, CJ Awasthi said, "Taking a holistic view of the entire matter, we have formulated few questions and answered accordingly." Questions framed are: 

1. Whether wearing hijab is essential religious practice under Islam?

2. If it interferes with freedom of expression and the right to privacy?

3. Whether GO of February 5 was issued without application of mind and manifestly arbitrary?

The bench said that wearing of Hijab is not an essential religious practice of the Islamic Faith. 

This comes after the court reserved its judgment after 11 days of hearing on February 25. 

The full bench of the High Court has been hearing the case on a day-to-day basis since February 10.

In its interim order, the bench asked the state government to reopen the educational institutions, which were hit by the agitation, and restrained students from wearing Hijab and saffron scarves in the classroom till the final order is delivered.

How did the Hijab row start?

On January 1, 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 headscarves.

This was four days after they requested the principal permission to wear hijab in classes which were 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 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.

The demand by a section of girls in a Udupi pre-university college to wear a Hijab inside their classrooms erupted into a major row after some Hindu students turned up in saffron shawls with the issue spreading to other parts of the state, even as the government insisted on a uniform norm, reported PTI.

The full bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice Krishna S Dixit and Justice J M Khazi was constituted on February 9 on a petition filed by girls from Udupi who prayed that they should be allowed to wear Hijab even inside the classroom along with the school uniform as it was part of their faith.

As the issue of Hijab versus saffron scarves spread to several educational institutions in many parts of Karnataka, the state government announced holiday from February 9 to February 15 in all the pre-university colleges and from February 9 to February 16 in degree and diploma colleges.

The girls then approached the Karnataka High Court seeking relief and quashing the government order on February 5 restraining students from wearing any cloth that could disturb, peace, harmony and public order.