The Supreme Court has been hearing the petitions challenging the Karnataka High Court's order on the hijab. Today, September 15, it continued to do so.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave told a two-judge Supreme Court bench that it should not have heard the petitions, instead the case should have been referred to a larger bench.
Dave, representing some of the petitioners', submitted before a bench comprising Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia that they should have not heard the case, instead referred the case to a larger bench, as reported by the IANS.
The senior advocate seemed to appear annoyed with the limited time that was given to him for arguments, and said, "please don't restrain us in time for arguing..."
Senior advocate Dave said that this is an issue that affects millions of people and he wanted to show the constituent assembly debates and the warnings of Sardar Patel.
He also said that the case is an important issue and that he will be unable to finish his arguments owing to the limited time given. With the agreement of the two-judge bench on these arguments, Dave is now expected to start his arguments in the afternoon session, and other lawyers’ arguments on this matter will be in the morning session.
Advocate Shoeb Alam, who is representing a few of the petitioners, submitted the impact of the Karnataka government orders before the bench, and said, "I will give you education, you give me your right to privacy". He also added that the right to privacy cannot be surrendered by the state. Alam said on one hand, I have my right to education, a secular education, and on the other hand, I have my right to privacy, culture, etc., under Article 21.
The state has an obligation and duty to facilitate education, he emphasised. In addition, he shared some statistics on Muslim girls in schools.
Senior advocate AM Dar, representing some petitioners, submitted that he will make the court aware of the Quran and he was told by the bench that the other lawyers have submitted that the courts are not equipped enough to interpret the Quran. Justice Gupta told Dar, "please don't take us through all verses of the Quran".
The SC will continue to hear arguments in the afternoon session on the petitions in the Karnataka High Court’s judgments upholding the ban on the hijab in PU (Pre-University) colleges.
