The hijab controversy began in January at the Government College in Udupi, Karnataka and soon spread to other places.
New Delhi:
Supreme Court Justice Hemant Gupta today asked a lawyer arguing for the right to wear the hijab in educational institutions: “You can’t take it to an illogical end. Will the right to dress include the right to wear clothes?”
Lawyer Dev Dutt Kamat replied, “Nobody is taking off clothes in the school.”
This was part of a long-lasting exchange between the court and the lawyer, during which Justice Gupta also remarked: “The problem here is that one particular community is insisting on a headscarf (hijab) while all other communities We are following the dress code. Other’s student community is not saying that we want to wear this and that.”
When lawyer Kamat said many students wear Rudraksh Or the cross as a religious symbol, the judge replied: “It is worn on the inside of the shirt. No one is going to pick up the shirt and see if anyone is wearing it.” Rudraksh,
The court is hearing a batch of petitions challenging the Karnataka High Court’s decision to lift the ban on the hijab – scarf that covers the hair, neck and sometimes shoulders of a woman – in educational institutions in the state. denies.
A bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia had on Monday placed an important issue at the center of the matter: “You can have a religious right to practice whatever you want to practice. But can you practice and Can take that right to school. Which is the uniform as part of the dress that you have to wear? That would be the question.”
When asked whether wearing hijab is a required practice under Article 25 of the Constitution, the bench said, “The issue can be modified a little differently. It may be necessary, it may not be necessary.” “
“What we are saying is whether you can insist on carrying on your religious practice in any government institution. Because the Preamble says that our country is a secular country,” the bench said in the last hearing.
The controversy began on January 1 at Government PU College in Udupi, where six girl students said they were not allowed to enter classes wearing hijabs. They started a protest, which soon became a statewide issue. Counter-protests by Hindu students wearing saffron dupatta spread to other states as well. The college principal said that students used to wear the hijab on campus, but removed it before entering the classroom; The students said that he was lying.
Several petitions were filed in the Karnataka High Court in which Muslim students referred to Articles 14, 19 and 25 of the Constitution after the students were stopped at other places as well.
Meanwhile, the state’s BJP government justified the ban under its 1983 Education Act. In an order dated February 5, it said the government reserves the right to issue directions to schools and colleges “to ensure maintenance of public order”. It states that the colleges coming under the Karnataka Board of Pre-University Education must follow the dress code prescribed by the institute. If it is not decided, then such clothing should be worn which “does not threaten equality, unity and public order”.
The High Court ruled that the hijab is not an “essential religious practice” that can be protected under the Constitution.