The Supreme Court has adjourned the hearing of 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. The case will next be heard on Wednesday, September 7. A Bench comprising Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia was hearing a batch of petitions that challenged the ban on wearing hijabs in educational institutions in Karnataka.
Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde, while arguing for the petitioners, said, “Women are vulnerable section of society. And out of them, there are more vulnerable sections. And access to education, can you make it conditional?” as stated in a tweet by LiveLaw.
Referring to the current case, he added that six students have lost a year of education and have joined a private college instead a place where wearing hijabs is allowed, whereas others don't have access to formal education, the tweet said.
To jog your memory, 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.
The advocate also argued that while there is a rule that says that educational institutions may prescribe notice for change in uniform, it also refers to a rule which says uniform must be informed to parents at least one year in advance, as stated in a tweet by LiveLaw.
In response to the arguments, the Advocate General of Karnataka said, “This government order does not violate the rights of the students. We are not saying don't wear hijab or wear hijab. We don't say either way. We only say follow the uniform prescribed,” as stated in a tweet by LiveLaw.
Additionally, Justice Hemant said, "If there is no power to prescribe uniform, Can we have a situation where girls can be allowed to wear minis and middies or whatever they want," as stated in a tweet by LiveLaw.
