E-Paper
Supreme Court to deliver verdict on Karnataka hijab ban today
Hijab ban verdict: A Supreme Court bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia is set to pronounce its judgement on the issue that had sparked a row in the southern state earlier this year.
The Supreme Court will on Thursday deliver its verdict on a batch of petitions challenging the ban on hijab, headscarves worn by some Muslim women, in educational institutions of Karnataka.
On September 22, a bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia had reserved its judgement after hearing arguments in the matter for 10 days.
During the arguments, a number of counsel for the petitioners had argued that preventing Muslim girls from wearing the hijab to the classroom will put their education in jeopardy as they might stop attending classes altogether.
Some of the advocates had also urged that the matter be referred to a five-judge constitution bench.
The counsel appearing for the state had said the BJP-led Karnataka government's order passed earlier this year following a statewide uproar over the issue was "religion neutral".
Stating the agitation in support of wearing hijab in educational institutions was not a "spontaneous act" by a few individuals, the state's counsel told the court that the government would have been "guilty of dereliction of constitutional duty" if it had not acted the way it did.
On March 15, the Karnataka high court had dismissed petitions filed by a section of Muslim students of the Government Pre-University Girls College in Karnataka's Udupi seeking permission to wear the hijab inside classrooms, ruling it is not a part of the essential religious practice in Islam.
The government's order of February 5, 2022 was challenged by some Muslim girls in the high court. Several pleas have been filed in the apex court challenging the high court verdict.
(With inputs from agencies)
