Hijab Ban- Supreme Court Hearing-DAY-6- Live Updates

Sibal : What is the limit under 19. Public order. That is the only limit. That is the real constitutional question.

Sibal : That is the question which has never been answered by this Court.

Justice Dhulia : It is an entirely new concept - the phrase used is "qualified public space". Where do you get this concept from?

Sibal : Nowhere. That is the Constitutional issue. It is not in 19. 

Sibal : If I have that right in a public place, does that right get extinguished when I enter the school gate?

Justice Dhulia : That is the question.

Sibal : Constitution does not say so. Art 19 does not say so.

Sibal quotes Hamlet : Dress maketh a man.

Sibal : The question your lordships first have to decide is if wearing of dress is an expression of self, whether it is linked with bodily autonomy? I can wear a mini skirt or whatever I want. Dress is both at the heart of privacy and expression 19(1)(a)

Sibal : We have accepted that in the context of diversity of the country that wearing of hijab is allowable in a public space. Wearing of hijab is an expression of who you are, where you belong. What you wear is the expression of the self. 

Senior Adv Kapil Sibal : What I am arguing has nothing to do with the merits. This is an issue which has to be referred to Constitution Bench. Not for religion or faith, for other reasons.

Gonsalves concludes.

Justice Gupta : Mr.Sibal comes. Dushyant Dave says he wil take one and a half day.

Gonsalves : The wrong equation of hijab with law and order problem is a shocking formulation.

Gonsalves : What will the other students think when police comes, when Principal stops hijab wearing girls...It sends a message that there is something wrong about the religion of Islam that it needs Policing.

Gonsalves referring to South African judgment allowing Hindu girl to wear nose pin in school. Judgment says disallowing the practice will mean that the girl and her religion are not welcome in the country.

Gonsalves : Karnataka controversy arose in a particular environment. I won't be able to tell it now. Leave it.