No student should insist on wearing any religious dress, says HC on Karnataka hijab row
10 Feb 2022 18:00:58
Bengaluru, Feb 10 : After hearing the Karnataka hijab row case, three-judge bench of the Karnataka High Court restrained students from wearing Hijab or any other religious attire to educational institutions till further orders. Karnataka High Court bench adjourned the hearing of the petitions on the Hijab issue to February 14.
A three-judge bench of the Karnataka High Court, comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and two other judges, began hearing petitions on the hijab issue Thursday afternoon. Earlier on Thursday, the Supreme Court had refused a prayer to urgently transfer the cases from Karnataka high court to the Supreme Court.
During the hearing Chief Justice has also asked to open schools in the state. "Closure of schools is not a good development. Take necessary action and conduct classes. See to it that no problem surfaces," he said. After protests in Bagalkot turned violent, the state government announced a three-day holiday for all schools and colleges in the state from Wednesday.
Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde appeared for Udupi girl students while Devadutt Kamat is represeted Muslim girl students from Kundapura College.Lawyer Sanjay Hegde told the court that even after a meeting with college authorities, petitioners were not allowed to attend classrooms, were made to sit outside the college. The students sought their right to education.
"On Jan 14, the principal scolded them for protesting in front of the college. He sought an apology letter, gave a blank paper to apologise and students refused," said Hegde. While making submissions before the bench, Sanjay Hegde said he had already gone through the act and the rules in the Karnataka Education Act, but there is no specific provision that deals with uniform.
To this CJI responded by saying, "Do you mean to say there should be no uniform?"
The controversy first erupted in December last year after students of a government college in Karnataka's Udupi started coming to the campus wearing 'hijabs'. Soon after, other students started wearing saffron scarves to college as a mark of protest against headscarves.
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