The court also observed that it feels that there can be the role of “hidden hands” as alleged in stoking the controversy that led to widespread protests.
New Delhi: Days after the hijab row erupted in Karnataka’s Udupi, the High Court on Tuesday said wearing hijabs is not an essential religious practice and junked the slew of petitions filed by the Muslim girl students of pre university colleges who were opposed to the ban enforced by the state government.
The controversy surrounding the hijab row led to several protests, ranging from Muslim students sitting outside classrooms for not being allowed to wear hijabs to Hindu students, backed by Right-wing outfits, barging inside classrooms chanting religious slogans.
Reacting to the order, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said, “The dress code of school/college must be followed by everyone of any religion.”
Karnataka Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, while reading out a portion of the order on Tuesday said, “We are of the considered opinion that wearing of the hijab by Muslim women does not make up an essential religious practice in Islamic faith.”
The bench, which also comprised Justices Krishna S Dixit and J M Khazi, said, “We are of the considered opinion that the prescription of a school uniform is a reasonable restriction constitutionally permissible which the students cannot object to.”
The court also observed that it feels that there can be the role of “hidden hands” as alleged in stoking the controversy that led to widespread protests.
“We are dismayed as to how all of a sudden that too in the middle of the academic term the issue of hijab is generated and blown out of proportion by the powers that be. The way, hijab imbroglio unfolded gives scope for the argument that some ‘unseen hands’ are at work to engineer social unrest and disharmony,” the High Court stated in its order.
