E-Paper
Udupi girls vow to attend classes only in hijab, continue fight for rights
Stating that the hijab is an essential part of their religion, the girls said they would not enter classrooms without their headscarves and termed the high court verdict "unconstitutional".
Muslim girls who are seeking permission to wear the hijab (a headscarf) inside educational institutions on Tuesday vowed to continue fighting for their cause until they get "justice". Their statements came hours after the Karnataka high court upheld a government order that banned the hijab in schools and colleges of the state and dismissed their petitions challenging the same.
Stating that the hijab is an essential part of their religion, the girls said they would not enter classrooms without their headscarves and termed the high court verdict "unconstitutional". "We had moved the high court seeking permission to wear the hijab in the classrooms... We will not go to the college without the hijab, but we will fight for it," news agency PTI quoted one of the girls as saying.
"We will try all the legal ways. We will fight for justice and our rights," she further said while addressing a press conference in the coastal town of Udupi. "The verdict which came today is unconstitutional… The Constitution itself provides us (our rights) to follow my religion and wear whatever we want," she added.
Accusing the state government, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party's Basavaraj Bommai, of creating the issue, the girl further said, "they have denied education to all the girls. This was done to create pressure".
Meanwhile, the high court was challenged in the SUpreme Court later in the day.
“The high court has failed to note that the right to wear a Hijab comes under the ambit of the right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. It is submitted that the freedom of conscience forms a part of the right to privacy,” Niba Naaz, a student, said in her petition to the top court.
