Observing that wearing a headscarf (hijab) is not an essential part of Islamic faith, the Allahabad high court dismissed a petition seeking direction to school authorities to allow a girl student to wear it in addition to the uniform.
The bench comprising Justice JJ Munir and Justice Indrajeet Shukla dismissed the petition filed by a student of a private school in Prayagraj. The girl had passed her high school and sought admission to Class XI in the same institution. She moved the high court through her mother, asking direction to the school authorities to permit the petitioner to wear a hijab.
The court observed, “We have perused the photographs from various classes relating to the petitioner. Except for her, no other girl student is donning the headscarf, even those belonging to the same religious community, as the petitioner.”
“Wherever this issue has arisen, the High Courts have been unanimous in opinion that wearing a headscarf is not essential part of the Islamic faith for a woman to don, in the absence of which, faith would be jeopardized,” the court said.
The court in its August 21 order further observed, “It is to be noted that the assertion in the writ petition, that wearing a headscarf is an essential religious practice, is a bare assertion. There is no pleading or authoritative religious text or material placed on record, sufficient by itself to establish, that the practice asserted by the petitioner about the obligation to wear a scarf inside the classroom, is obligatory upon her and the non-observance thereof would alter the fundamental character of her faith.”
{{/usCountry}}The court in its August 21 order further observed, “It is to be noted that the assertion in the writ petition, that wearing a headscarf is an essential religious practice, is a bare assertion. There is no pleading or authoritative religious text or material placed on record, sufficient by itself to establish, that the practice asserted by the petitioner about the obligation to wear a scarf inside the classroom, is obligatory upon her and the non-observance thereof would alter the fundamental character of her faith.”
{{/usCountry}}“A claim, placing reliance upon Article 25 of the Constitution, cannot be accepted for the sake of mere assertion, without the necessary factual and legal foundation laid for the purpose. Perusal of the writ petition shows that there are no pleadings to that effect by the petitioner, except that she has been doing it since she was a child and ever-since she joined the School in Class-VI,” observed the bench while dismissing the petition.