SC delivers split verdict on Karnataka Hijab ban
NEW DELHI,OCT. 13: The Supreme Court today delivered a spilt verdict in the pleas challenging Karnataka HC’s ruling of upholding the ban on hijab in educational institutions.
Justice Hemant Gupta dismissed the appeals challenging the HC’s order whereas Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia allowed the appeals.
Justice Dhulia while allowing the appeals and quashing the GO dated February 5 said, “Wearing of hijab is ultimately a matter of her choice. The ratio laid down by SC in Bijoy Emanuel covers the issue. What weighed in my mind was the education of a girl child. A girl child has a lot of difficulties to face. There are other difficulties as well and whether we’re making her life any better by putting restrictions on education.”
Due to the divergence in opinion, the two-judge bench asked the pleas to be placed before the CJI for constituting an appropriate bench.
A bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia after an extensive hearing of ten days had reserved a verdict in September 2022.
The hearing had witnessed a battery of senior lawyers such as Kapil Sibal, Dushyant Dave, Salman Khurshid, Rajeev Dhawan, Sanjay Hegde, Devdutt Kamat arguing against the hijab ban. For the State, submissions were made by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, Karnataka AG Prabhuling Navadgi and ASG KM Nataraj.
On March 15, 2022, the Karnataka HC held that wearing of the hijab was not a part of essential religious practice which could be protected under article 25 (Right to freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion) of the Constitution. The bench further held that the prescription of a uniform dress code in educational institutions was not violative of the fundamental rights of the petitioners.
The HC’s verdict came on the petitions filed by a section of Muslim students from the Government Pre-University Girls College in Udupi. The students had challenged the state’s February 5 decision that did not allow students to wear the hijab, or customary Islamic headscarf, to educational institutions.
-TNIE
