Hijab row: Student petitioners' exams coming soon; CJI Chandrachud agrees to consider request for urgent listing

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Monday, January 23, agreed to consider the hijab matter for urgent listing before the Supreme Court as the concerned Muslim girl students are to appear for exams which are conducted only in government colleges, as stated in a report by LiveLaw.

Senior advocate Meenakshi Arora said that the students have already lost one academic year and the Muslim girl students had to move to private institutions after the government PU colleges prohibited hijab, as per the LiveLaw report. "But the exams are to be held in government colleges. So the private colleges can't conduct exams. The practicals will start on February 6. We are only praying to take up the matter for interim directions," the advocate said as per LiveLaw.

Meanwhile, a report by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties - Karnataka (PUCL-K) revealed that Muslim girls and women continue to face harassment even a year after the hijab controversy.  In the report titled Closing the Gates of Education: Violations of Rights of Muslim Women — students have alleged that they continue to face harassment from college administrations, with many compelled to shift from government to minority institutions, as per a report by The New Indian Express.

To recall, the matter reached the Supreme Court and after months of hearings and adjournments, the top court delivered a split verdict on the matter. Justice Hemant Gupta's verdict upholds the hijab ban verdict of Karnataka HC, which dismissed petitions filed by Muslim students seeking the right to wear hijabs in classrooms under Articles 14, 19 and 25 of the Constitution of India, as per LiveLaw. Justice Sudhanshshu Dhulia, on the other hand, allowed all the appeals and set aside the judgment of the Karnataka HC.

CJI Chandrachud said that he will examine the matter and list it before a third bench, as per the LiveLaw report.