Hijab Ban- Karnataka High Court Full Bench Hearing (Day 7)- LIVE UPDATES

AG quotes from Triple Talaq case : A practice claimed to be essential must be mandatory and not optional.

AG reads the conclusions in Triple Talaq case :

1. Views of religious denomination, though significant are not determinative in essentiality of practice.

2. Courts have central role.

AG refers to Shayara Bano (Triple Talaq) case.

AG says that judgment in Kureshi case regarding cattle sacrifice is also relevant in the case.

AG : So it has to be shown it is not essentially religious, but essential to religion.

If they show wearing of Hijab is essential to religious practise, they pass the test laid down by the Supreme Court.

AG : The shift in judicial approach took place when ‘essentially religious’ (as distinct from the secular) became conflated with ‘essential to religion.’

AG: Prior to Devaru, this Court used the word ‘essential’ to distinguish between religious & secular practices in order to circumscribe the extent of state intervention in religious matters.

AG reads from Sabarimala judgment : "While the Court would take into consideration the views of a religious community in determining whether a practice qualified as essential, this would not be determinative" -

AG : This is so critical for the entire discourse.

"What constitutes the essential part of a religion is primarily to be ascertained with reference to the doctrines of that religion itself" - this sentence in previous judgment, see how Justice Chandrachud explains and distinguishes : AG

AG continues referring to Sabarimala case judgment.