Representational image. News18
New Delhi: The Supreme Court issued a split decision in the Karnataka hijab ban case on Thursday, with Justice Hemant Gupta dismissing petitions against the ban and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia allowing them. Despite Supreme Court’s split verdict, the ban on hijab in classes will still continue.
Several petitioners had approached the Supreme Court, challenging the Karnataka High Court order upholding the Karnataka government’s order directing strict enforcement of uniform rules in schools and colleges.
One of the appeals in the top court had alleged “step-motherly behaviour of government authorities which has prevented students from practising their faith and resulted in an unwanted law and order situation”.
The appeal said the High Court in its impugned order “had vehemently failed to apply its mind and was unable to understand the gravity of the situation as well as the core aspect of the Essential Religious Practices enshrined under Article 25 of the Constitution of India”.
On 15 March, the Karnataka High Court issued its verdict on the hijab ban after weeks of protests across the country. The high court ruled that hijab is not an essential religious practise in Islam, which came as a huge setback for students who have been protesting the ban.
The high court dismissed all petitions challenging the ban on wearing hijab inside Karnataka schools and also ruled that the restrictions on wearing uniforms were reasonable and that students could not object to it.
The hijab controversy erupted in January this year when the Government PU College in Udupi allegedly denied entry to six girls wearing the hijab. Following this, the girls sat outside the college in protest of being denied entry.
Following this, boys from several colleges in Udupi began wearing saffron scarves to class. This protest spread to other parts of the state, resulting in protests and agitations in several locations throughout Karnataka.
As a result, the Karnataka government mandated that all students wear the uniform and prohibited both hijab and saffron scarves until an expert committee decided on the issue.
The pre-university education board issued a circular on 5 February stating that students could only wear the uniform approved by the school administration and that no other religious attire would be permitted in colleges.
With inputs from agencies
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