The Supreme Court was hearing a batch of petitions that challenged the Karnataka High Court's judgement of upholding the hijab ban on Monday, August 29, as stated in a tweet by LiveLaw.in.
"This is not acceptable to us. You wanted urgent listing and when the matter is listed, you want adjournment. We will not permit forum shopping," Justice Hemant Gupta said, as stated by LiveLaw.in.
The counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners mentioned in front of a bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia that advocates were coming from all over Karnataka.
The Solicitor General Tushar Mehta mentioned that a counter affidavit may not be necessary as only the question of law is involved. The Bench issued notice and the matter was posted to next Monday, September 5, though the petitioners requested two weeks' time in the matter.
When it all began
The controversy started in a government Pre-University College in Udupi, where the College Development Committee allegedly banned Muslim girl students from wearing hijabs inside the campus. A group of Muslim girls from the college protested for days and, as the news spread to other parts of the state, a few more educational institutions banned hijabs on campuses.
Taking note of the unrest, the Karnataka government passed an Order that said that students must stick only to the prescribed uniform. The order also mentioned that hijab was not an Essential Religious Practice (ERP) and, therefore, it cannot be protected under the Right to Practice Religion under the Constitution.
These were the matters under consideration by the Karnataka High Court when it began hearing the case in February. Finally, in March, the High Court dismissed the petitions that called for the repeal of the GO and the protection of the right to wear hijab as an ERP.
However, the High Court found the GO reasonable and concluded that the hijab was not an ERP and that allowing it would compromise the sanctity and meaning of wearing a uniform in educational institutions.
As a result of the order, hundreds of Muslim girls were restricted from exam halls and classrooms during the exam season commencing March. While some removed their hijab, others refused to do so and were denied entry into educational institutions.
The petitioners had, on March 16 and then again on March 24, pleaded with the Supreme Court to consider their matter urgently since they were unable to write examinations. However, at the time, CJI Ramana chided the counsel, and asked him not to "sensationalise the matter". "It has nothing to do with exams," said CJI Ramana.
