#HijabRow: Karnataka government issues clarification on High Court order

The issue rests in court at the moment, with the full-bench having reserved its judgment in the case on February 25
Pic: Edexlive
Pic: Edexlive

The Karnataka government on Friday, March 11, clarified that the order of the High Court which prohibited students in the state from wearing any religious attire in addition to the school uniform, including the hijab, was restricted to government educational institutions only. The clarification was required after Mount Carmel College, which is a well-known women's college in Bengaluru, stopped a student in a turban from entering the college premises on the basis of the order. The state government then clarified that the High Court's order did not apply to private and minority-run institutions. Therefore, the college has now said that it will allow students to wear hijab to classes.

The case, which is sub-judice, emerged in a government pre-university college in Udupi, where a group of Muslim girl students claimed that the administration had barred them from entering the campus while wearing their hijab in late December last year. This was followed by protests across several districts in Karnataka which turned violent after another group of students turned up in saffron shawls to take a stand against the girls demanding the right to attend colleges and schools in the hijab.

On February 5, the Karnataka government issued an order, stating that students should abide by the uniform prescribed by their educational institutions. The GO went on to state that the hijab was not an essential religious practice under Article 25 of the Constitution, which was a claim made by the petitioners in their plea to the High Court. An interim order was passed on February 10, which barred all students from wearing any items of religious clothing to educational institutions that have a prescribed uniform. After 10 days of the hearing, the court reserved its judgment, after clarifying that the order applied to all institutions with a uniform and not just PUCs.

In its submission, the Karnataka government had also clarified that the order barred students from wearing the hijab only during class hours and not generally inside the educational institutions.

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