The Supreme Court has stalled a request by Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal to admit a petition filed in the Apex court in the hijab controversy in Karnataka. Sibal had requested that the matter be taken up by a Bench consisting of the Chief Justice. However, the court denied the request to admit it immediately, given the fact that the matter is being heard in the High Court of Karnataka currently.
The petition in the Karnataka High Court was filed by a PUC student in Udupi who was denied entry into her college for showing up in a hijab, along with a few other students. The High Court on Monday, February 7, said that they will make a decision based on reason and law, and not on "emotion". The court also added, "We will go by what the Constitution says and the Constitution is the Bhagavad Gita."
The hearing was then adjourned and is set to be heard today (February 10) by a larger Bench at 2:30 pm. Sibal requested the Supreme Court to transfer the matter and list it for hearing. In his request to the court, Sibal said, "This deals with what's happening in Karnataka. It is spreading all over the country. Exams are two months away and schools and colleges have been shut because of this. Girls are being stoned."
The court said that since the matter was already scheduled to be heard in the Karnataka High Court, a couple of days' time should be taken before it is listed in the Supreme Court. "The problem is that now if we list the matter, the High Court will never hear it. Wait for one or two days," the court told Sibal.
The hijab controversy took an ugly turn in Karnataka on Monday with reports of violence emerging from colleges in various parts of the state, including Bagalkot and Shivamogga districts where a teacher and a student were attacked, respectively. Following these reports, Karnataka's Chief Minister, Basavaraj Bommai, called for peace and declared a three-day holiday for all high schools and colleges in the state from Tuesday, February 8.
