The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday upheld the ban on wearing hijab in classrooms and ruled that hijab is not a necessity in Islam. The ruling has the potential to become exemplary for the rest of the nation and have implications in a country that has a big Muslim minority.
A Karnataka college’s decision in January to prohibit the entry of Muslim girls wearing the hijab to the classroom had sparked protests by some Muslim students and parents, and counter-protests by Hindu students. The issue had very soon escalated which forced the state to shut schools and colleges for multiple days.
Some Muslim women protesters filed petitions in the Karnataka High Court, arguing that they have been given the right to wear Hijab by the Indian constitution. Critics of the ban say that it is just another way of marginalising the Muslim community that accounts for around 13 percent of the Indian population.
The 129-page High Court order quotes several passages from the Quran to assert that the hijab is not a mandatory religious practice.
The order reads that there is a sufficient elemental material in the scripture to up-hold the view that wearing hijab has been only recommended, if at all it is. Therefore, that what is not religiously made mandatory cannot be made a standard aspect of the religion through public agitations or by the passionate arguments in court.
“We are of the considered opinion that wearing of the hijab by Muslim women does not form a part of essential religious practice in Islamic faith,” said Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, in the judgement.
Awasthi said that the government had the power to prescribe guidelines for school uniform, which the students cannot have objection to, and thereby dismissed various petitions challenging the Hijab ban ordered by Karnataka.
Hijab Verdict to be contested in the Supreme Court?
The judgment is likely to be contested in the Supreme Court.
Prof Ravi Varma Kumar, the senior advocate who appeared for one of the petitioners said to a reporter that this is a particularly fit case to be taken up in the Supreme Court.
Musab Qazi, the national secretary of the Students Islamic Organisation of India said that they don’t want the verdict to become a national precedent. He said that the verdict may encourage even more states to ban the Hijab and so they will appeal against the verdict in the Supreme Court.
Many of the Muslim female students in the Udupi district of Karnataka said that they would either drop out of the government-funded colleges or will opt for a correspondence course, but won’t take off the Hijab, even if it means sitting out of the semester exams scheduled in the next month.
One of the women petitioners said that they had so much hope in the judicial system and the constitutional values, but now they feel as if they have been betrayed by their own country.
Before the verdict was delivered, Karnataka authorities had announced the closure of schools and colleges and had imposed restrictions on public gatherings in parts of the state to prevent potential trouble.
Mehbooba Mufti, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, called the verdict “deeply disappointing”. She Tweeted that on one hand we talk about empowering the women, yet we are denying them the right to a simple choice. It isn’t just about religion but the freedom to choose, she added.
The ban had led to protests in Karnataka as well as in some other parts of the country. The issue attracted international attention after some protests escalated into violence and drew criticism from the United States and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
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