A group of girl students from Karnataka on Monday approached the Supreme Court, requesting a directive to allow government institutions in the state to permit them to sit for examinations wearing hijab.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud said he will consider setting up a three-judge bench to take up the matter in view of a split verdict by two judges of the previous bench in October 2022.
“I will examine the matter and allot a date. This is a three-judge bench matter. You submit a note to the registrar,” the CJI told senior advocate Meenakshi Arora who appeared on behalf of the students.
Arora pointed out that most of the girl students have migrated to some private colleges in view of the continuing prohibition by the state government on wearing of hijab in educational institutions in Karnataka.
“However, exams can only be conducted in government colleges…private colleges cannot conduct exams. That’s why we want this matter to be taken up for interim orders,” Arora, assisted by advocate Shadan Farasat, told the CJI.
She requested the court to list the matter on priority since the examinations are slated to commence from February 6. At this, the CJI said a three-judge bench will have to be allotted the matter and that he would consider passing suitable orders on the administrative side for listing of the case.
The top court had in October 2022 delivered a split verdict on the ban on wearing hijab in educational institutions in Karnataka – one judge affirmed that the state government is authorised to enforce uniform in schools, while the other called the hijab a matter of choice that cannot be stifled by the state.
Justice Hemant Gupta, in his judgment, had dismissed all the appeals filed against the Karnataka high court judgment, which held in March last year that the wearing of hijab by Muslim women is not mandatory in Islam and that the Karnataka government was well within power to enforce the uniform mandate.
However, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia differed from the senior judge on the bench and allowed all the appeals. Reading out the operative part of his judgment, Justice Dhulia said the wearing of hijab is a matter of choice for a Muslim girl and there cannot be any restriction against it. Quashing the state government’s prohibitory notification, he added that concerns regarding the education of a girl child weighed the most on his mind and the ban on hijab would certainly come in the way of making her life better.
In view of the dissenting views, the matter was referred to the Chief Justice of India for constituting an appropriate bench.
The extensive hearing in the case last year witnessed almost two dozen lawyers arguing over a spectrum of issues on behalf of girl students, Islamic bodies, rights groups, lawyers and activists.
The petitioners, challenging the Karnataka high court order that affirmed the ban, raised in their arguments the right to practice religion, freedom to dress as a matter of expression and identity, right to access education and alleged unreasonableness of the state’s mandate.
The Karnataka government countered the petitioners, maintaining throughout the proceedings that their circular to enforce uniform was religion-neutral, and aimed only at promoting uniformity and discipline in educational institutions of the state.
Source- Hindustan Times.
