SC To Hear The Appeal Against Karnataka HC Order Next Week
SC to hear the appeal against Karnataka HC order next week: Hijab Ban. Supreme Court to hear the appeal against the Karnataka High Court order next week.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear next week’s appeals challenging the Karnataka High Court order that upheld the state government’s decision to ban the wearing of hijab in school and college classes.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hema Kohli said it would list the matter before an appropriate bench next week.
Some of the petitioners before the High Court approached the apex court challenging the upholding of the Karnataka government’s order which had directed strict enforcement of dress rules in schools and colleges.
One of the appeals in the top court alleges “step-motherly treatment of government officials, which has prevented students from practicing their faith and has resulted in unwanted law and order situation”.
SC to hear the appeal against Karnataka HC: Hijabs are banned in educational institutions.
The appeal stated that the High Court in its order “has utterly failed to apply its mind and to understand the gravity of the situation as well as the fundamental aspect of the essential religious practices enshrined under Article 25 of the Constitution of India”.
It states, “Wearing a hijab or headscarf is a practice that is essential to the practice of Islam.”
The Karnataka High Court said the fixation of dress is a reasonable restriction to which students cannot object and dismissed various petitions challenging the ban on hijab in educational institutions, holding that they are without qualification.
Karnataka government said all students have to follow the dress.
The hijab controversy erupted in January this year when the Government PU College in Udupi allegedly barred six hijab-wearing girls from entering.
After this, the girls sat on a dharna outside the college for not being given admission. After this, boys from many colleges of Udupi started attending classes wearing saffron scarves.
This protest spread to other parts of the state as well and there were protests and agitations at many places in Karnataka.
As a result, the Karnataka government said that all students should adhere to dress and ban both hijab and saffron scarves until an expert committee decided on the issue.
Karnataka High Court reserves its verdict.
On 5 February, the Board of Pre-University Education issued a circular stating that students can only wear dresses approved by the school administration and no other religious dress will be allowed in colleges.
The order states that if the dress is not prescribed by the management committees, the students should wear clothes that match the idea of equality and unity and should not disturb the social order.
A batch of appeals was filed against the government’s ruling in the Karnataka High Court by some girls seeking permission to wear the hijab in educational institutions.
The High Court on February 10 issued an interim order saying that students should not wear any religious dress in classes until the court issues a final order.
The hearing related to the hijab case was concluded on February 25 and the court had reserved its verdict.
