Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia will hear a batch of petitions challenging the ban on wearing Hijab in educational institutions in Karnataka.A batch of 23 petitions is listed before the bench. Some of them are writ petitions filed directly before the Supreme Court seeking the right to wear hijab for Muslim girl students. Some others are special...
Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia will hear a batch of petitions challenging the ban on wearing Hijab in educational institutions in Karnataka.
A batch of 23 petitions is listed before the bench. Some of them are writ petitions filed directly before the Supreme Court seeking the right to wear hijab for Muslim girl students. Some others are special leave petitions which challenge the judgment of the Karnataka High Court dated March 15 which upheld the hijab ban.
The SLPs have been filed against the judgment dated March 15 passed by the High Court of Karnataka, upholding Government Order dated 05.02.2022, which has effectively prohibited Petitioners, and other such female Muslim students from wearing the headscarf in their Pre-University Colleges. A Full Bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice Krishna Dixit and Justice JM Khazi held that wearing of hijab by women was not an essential religious practice of Islam. The Bench further held the prescription of uniform dress code in educational institutions was not violative of the fundamental rights of the petitioners.
FOLLOW LIVE UPDATES OF TODAY'S HEARING HERE
Ahmadi raising the point of indirect discrimination - cites the Aesop fable of fox and stork being served soup in shallow bowl, which stork can't drink due to its long beak (cited by Aditya Sondhi also today morning).
Ahmadi reading out testimonials- law students wearing hijab were not allowed court visits as they were wearing hijab.
Ahmadi reading out testimonials - students wearing hijab faced hostilities, after the judgment, they are being stared at, facing harassment. One student says she has to travel in buses operated by Muslims. Neighbours who were friendly earlier started showing hostility.
Justice Dhulia : Do you have authentic figures of studends drop out?
Ahmadi : My friend informs 17000 students abstained from exam.
Ahmadi : Take it from a purely common sensical point of view, these are students from conservative families.
Justice Dhulia : That is a projection.
Justice Gupta : There is no pleading that you are from the deprived sections.
Ahmadi : The effect of the judgment can be shown only after the judgment.
Justice Dhulia : The judgment is of March 2022, and can there be an impact.
Ahmadi : The PUCL report is there.
J Dhulia : We don't know how authentic it is
Justice Dhulia : The drop out rates among girls is very high, but this was not argued.
Justice Gupta : High Court could have examined it if there were pleadings.
Justice Dhulia : Before High Court you raised only ERP.
Justice Gupta : These are factual questions- drop out
Ahmadi : The State has to see where does the public interest lie? Whether in enforcing discipline or in promoting education? If the circular targets one community, though facially neutral, it will fall foul of Art 14.
Ahmadi : What is the degree of discipline affected by allowing someone to wear the Hijab?
Ahmadi : The GO was applied retrospectively, while it was issued in February 2022, girls were stopped from December 2021.
Ahmadi : The GO was applied retrospectively, while it was issued in February 2022, girls were stopped from December 2021.
Ahmadi : The GO is arbitrary for its whimsical nature and timing, in the middle of academic year barely a month ahead of exams.