A fresh plea has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Karnataka High Court’s interim order dated 10th February, which has asked the students to refrain from wearing any religious clothing on the campuses of educational institutions which can instigate people or disrupt peace and tranquillity, till the matter is resolved.
The plea that has been filed by a student sought a stay on the Karnataka High Court’s direction. A bench comprising of three judges is hearing the hijab case, as well as the proceedings going on in light of the hijab controversy.
The appeal in the Supreme Court contended that the High Court’s interim order amounts to the suspension of rights and will curtail the fundamental right and it has far-reaching consequences, not just for Muslim student women by not allowing them to wear the hijab, but for people of other faiths too. This direction prohibits the Sikhs from wearing turbans.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka High Court has posted the matter for Monday and has said educational institutions can resume classes for students.
The three-judge full bench has Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice J M Khazi and Justice Krishna S Dixit. It was formed on Wednesday and it said that it wants the matter to be resolved at the earliest, but till then peace and tranquillity has to be maintained by all.
Till the disposal of the matter, people (students wearing Hijab or saffron scarves) should not insist on wearing any religious things to educational institutions, the Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi said. He added that the bench will pass an order regarding the matter, and the schools and colleges can start functioning as usual. But till the matter is resolved, no student should insist on wearing religious dress.
Earlier, Justice Dixit, who was hearing the case, referred the case for Justice Awasthi’s consideration with an input that the matter should be looked into by a larger bench.
The Hijab row had started in the end of December 2021 when some women students were prohibited from entering the Government Pre-University College in Karnataka’s Udupi as they were wearing Hijab. The college administration asked them to remove Hijab if they wanted to attend classes. The women argued that wearing Hijab was their right and began protesting over the ban.
Later on, some Hindu students turned up in college, wearing saffron scarves as a protest against the protesting women students. From there on, the controversy has escalated and spread to other educational institutions in different parts of the State. The protesting students of both the communities can be seen at multiple educational institutions.
The protests took a violent turn at some places earlier this week, which prompted the government to declare holiday for the institutions for three days.
Earlier, a group of male students was caught on camera in Shivamogga district, hoisting the saffron flag at their college. The incident prompted the state government to order an inquiry into the matter. A recent viral video showed a young woman wearing a hijab on the college campus being approached by a mob of men with saffron shawls and yelling “Jai Shri Ram” repeatedly, in a bid to heckle the girl. But the girl stood her ground and shouted “Allahu Akbar” in response. She was escorted away safely by the college authorities.
Karnataka Education Minister Nagesh BC has termed the controversy as politics. While talking to a BBC Hindi reporter he said that these are tactics by the Popular Front of India (PFI) to gain ground in the region, as State Assembly Elections are due next year. Extending his support to the college authorities, he said that the college authorities should ban both saffron scarves and hijabs inside school and college premises.
