Supreme court refuses urgent hearing of pleas against Karnataka HC verdict on Hijab row

New Delhi, Mar 16: In the latest development in the ongoing Hijab row, the Supreme Court refused to urgently hear the appeals against the Karnataka High Court’s decision to uphold the ban on wearing hijab in educational institutions of the state.

 

A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana said that it will list the matter after the Holi vacations. It should be noted that the judges will be on vacation between March 17 and March 19, while March 20 is a Sunday.

 

This comes after, Advocates Sanjay Hegde and Devadutt Kamat represented the Muslim girls who filed an appeal against the High Court’s verdict. In the plea, it was mentioned that the verdict created an unreasonable classification between the non-Muslim female students and the Muslim female students, which is in violation of the concept of Secularism in the Constitution of India.

 

 

 

Hegde said that Muslim girls would not be able to attend college ahead of their examinations as they will not be allowed to wear hijabs in classrooms.

 

Yesterday, the Karnataka High Court said Hijab was not part of the essential religious practice in the Islamic faith and effectively upheld the ban against the headscarf in educational institutions.

 

The Court further held that prescription of school uniform by the State is a reasonable restriction the students' rights under Article 25 and thus, the Government Order issued by the Karnataka government dated February 5 is not violative of their rights. Accordingly, the Court has dismissed the petitions filed by Muslim girl students, challenging the action of a government PU college in denying their entry for wearing a hijab (headscarf).

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