BREAKING| "Will List It, Wait For Two Days" : CJI Ramana Agrees To List Appeals Against Karnataka HC's Hijab Judgment

The Chief Justice of India on Tuesday agreed to list the hijab case appeals in two days.

"I will list. Wait for two days", CJI Ramana told Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora when she mentioned the petitions filed against the Karnataka High Court's judgment in the Hijab case for urgent listing.

The SLP has 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 comprisin 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 petiitoners.

The petitioners sought urgent listing of the petition by stating that though it was registered on 30.03.2022, despite passage of one month, it has not been listed for hearing, in the normal course.

Advocate-on-Record Shadan Farasat, in the application moved for urgent listing, cited two reasons : 

Firstly, the annual PUC Examinations are continuing and the Petitioners and other similarly situated girls are being denied the opportunity to take those examinations unless they disrobe themselves of the headscarf.

Secondly, in light of the impugned judgment, a large number of Muslim girls who are similarly situated to the Petitioner, are being forced to drop out of their respective educational institutions across the State of Karnataka, severely hampering their right to education.

Last month, the CJI had turned down a plea for urgent listing of the appeals against the Karnataka High Court verdict upholding hijab ban in schools and colleges. "Exams have nothing to do with this issue", the CJI had said when the petitioner's counsel said that Muslim students won't be able to attend exams.