Supreme Court to take up pleas against hijab verdict after Holi
On Tuesday, a full bench of the Karnataka high court declared that wearing of hijab is not mandatory in Islam while affirming the ban on the head dress imposed by the state government in schools and colleges
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refrained from putting a date to hearing a clutch of petitions against the Karnataka high court’s ruling that wearing of hijab by Muslim women does not form a part of essential religious practice in Islam.
A bench, led by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, did not indicate any date for the hearing after senior counsel Sanjay Hegde and Devadatt Kamat urged the court to urgently list the matter.
“Give us some time…we will see after the Holi vacation,” retorted the CJI to Hegde. The top court will be closed for Holi for three days starting Thursday, and will reopen on March 21.
At this point, Hegde asked if the court would consider listing it on March 21, adding the examinations are going to begin shortly and the affected students have to sit for them.
But CJI Ramana replied: “Mr Hegde, give us time. We will see. We will post the matter”.
On Tuesday, a full bench of the Karnataka high court declared that wearing of hijab is not mandatory in Islam while affirming the ban on the head dress imposed by the state government in schools and colleges through a February 5 executive order which led to massive protests and counter-protests across the state and in several other cities across the country.
The three-judge high court bench, headed by chief justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, held that Quran does not mandate wearing of hijab for Muslim women and that the attire “at the most is a means to gain access to public places” and a “measure of social security”, but “not a religious end in itself”.
The high court also favoured a “speedy and effective” investigation into the hijab controversy in Karnataka, suspecting some “unseen hands at work” in engineering “social unrest and disharmony in the state”.
Dismissing a bunch of petitions filed by girl students who argued that wearing of hijab was their religious right protected under the Constitution, the high court also upheld the state government’s authority to prescribe uniforms in educational institutions under the Karnataka Education Act while declaring that “adherence to dress code is mandatory for students”.
Hours later, one of the petitioners, Niba Naaz, filed an appeal in the Supreme Court challenging the high court verdict. Naaz’s petition, which was mentioned by Hegde on Wednesday before the CJI, argued that the high court has erred in creating a dichotomy of freedom of religion and freedom of conscience wherein the court has inferred that those who follow a religion cannot have the right to conscience.
“The Hon’ble High Court has failed to note that the right to wear a Hijab comes under the ambit of ‘expression’ and is thus protected under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. It is submitted that clothing and appearance fall within the ambit of the right of expression guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution,” it added.
Aishat Shifa, another petitioner before the high court, also filed an appeal in the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning. The petition by the students of the PU College at Udupi was mentioned by Kamat before the top court for an urgent hearing.
The high court verdict has drawn mixed reactions. While the Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai-led Bharatiya Janata Party government commended the judgment, some others are worried about its far-reaching repercussions on religious rights.