Today, Friday, August 9, the Supreme Court (SC) partly stayed a Mumbai college circular banning 'hijab, burqa, cap and naqab' on the campus and said female students must be free to choose what they wear. This was stated in a report by PTI.
It further said, educational institutions cannot force on them their choice.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar issued notice to the Chembur Trombay Education Society, which runs the N G Acharya and D K Marathe College, and sought its response by November 18.
"Girl students must have freedom of choice in what they wear and college cannot force them. It's unfortunate that you suddenly wake up to know that there are many religions in the country," the bench told the college administration at the centre of a fresh row over a dress code for Muslim students.
It questioned why the college did not ban 'tilak' and 'bindi' if it intended the religious faiths of the students not to be revealed.
Furthermore, the bench questioned, "Will the students' names not reveal their religious identity?" to the senior advocate Madhavi Diwan, appearing for the educational society.
However, the court said no burqa can be allowed to be worn by girls inside the classroom and no religious activities can be permitted on the campus.
The bench said its interim order should not be misused by anybody and granted liberty to the educational society and the college to approach the court in case of any misuse.
In addition, the top court was hearing a plea challenging a Bombay HC verdict upholding the college's decision to ban hijab, burqa and naqab inside the campus.
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves and advocate Abiha Zaidi, appearing for the petitioners, including Zainab Abdul Qayyum, submitted that students were not able to attend classes because of the ban.
