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New Delhi: Karnataka Advocate General Prabhuling Navadgi on Wednesday informed the Supreme Court that there is no judgement on right to wear dress as an expression in a classroom in defiance of uniform rule.
The apex court is hearing arguments on a batch of petitions challenging the Karnataka High Court verdict refusing to lift the ban on hijab in educational institutions of the state that have prescribed uniforms.
Highlighting the NALSA verdict, Navadgi stated that transgender persons wanted to dress in a particular way to express themselves and in that context dress was held to be 19(1)(a) right, Live Law reported.
“The alternate submission is, Article 19(a), majority of judgement is on the line of communication. Concept of dress came from NALSA judgment. What was the context of NALSA? It was transgender rights,” the Karnataka AG said.
“Transgender persons wanted to dress in a particular way to express themselves and in that context dress was held to be 19(1)(a) right. But there is no judgement on right to wear dress as an expression in a classroom in defiance of uniform rule,” Navadgi added.
The Karnataka Advocate General further stated that the right to wear a hijab or whatever dress in a school in defiance of uniform rule is not a fundamental right.
“They have to establish what is the expression they want to convey and to whom they want to convey. They say they wear hijab as Islam mandates. That is no expression,” he stated.
“We have not prohibited hijab outside, there is no restriction on wearing in school transport. There is no restriction even in school campus. It is only in classroom… When it was asserted militantly that I want to wear hijab, and there was opposition, what do I do as a school principal. My concern was to run the school, to bring the children together without animosity. The Govt order was under these considerations,” Navadgi added.
A Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia is hearing a batch of petitions challenging the ban on wearing Hijab in educational institutions in Karnataka.
The Karnataka government’s order of 5 February, 2022 by which it banned wearing clothes that disturb equality, integrity, and public order in schools and colleges, was referred to in the apex court.
Several pleas have been filed in the top court against the 15 March verdict of the high court holding that wearing hijab is not a part of the essential religious practice which can be protected under Article 25 of the Constitution.
The high court had dismissed the pleas filed by a section of Muslim students from the Government Pre-University Girls College in Udupi, seeking permission to wear hijab inside the classroom.
Challenging the 5 February order of the government, the petitioners had argued before the high court that wearing the Islamic headscarf was an innocent practice of faith and an essential religious practice and not a display of religious jingoism.
(With inputs from agencies)
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