Bengaluru: The hearing of a batch of petitions by the Karnataka High Court against the ongoing Hijab ban in the state has ended for the day and will resume tomorrow. The full bench comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justices Krishna S Dixit and JM Khazi, which is hearing the related petitions, had, on February 10, barred the wearing of hijab, saffron shawls, scarves in school until the final directions from the court. In its interim order, the Court had also directed the state government to reopen educational institutions.
On Monday, the hearing commenced with Chief Justice asking the media to be "more responsible". Arguing on behalf of the petitioners, Senior Advocate Devadatt Kamat said the tenets on which the GO banning Hijab was passed are "flawed". Elaborating on it, he said the declaration made by the Karnataka government that wearing of Hijab is not protected under Article 25 is "totally erroneous".
To substantiate his argument, Kamat referred to several judgments including the Kerala HC judgment in the AIPMT case, which allowed the wearing of Hijab for the entrance test, holding it to be an essential religious practice. At this point, Chief Justice asked the pertinent question, "Since when the students have been wearing Hijab?"
"Petitioners have been wearing the Hijab since they started attending this college, for the past two years," clarified Kamat. Mentioning how Kendra Vidyalaya allows the wearing of Hijab in the uniform colour, the senior advocate submitted that the petitioners are not insisting on a different uniform, but Hijab in the colour of the uniform. He added that allowing Muslim women to wear Hijab is a "national practice". Kamat also made reference to the Madras High Court order that observed that the head scarf is "obligatory".
Earlier in the day, high schools reopened after being shut from last Wednesday following untoward incidents in parts of the State over the Hijab row. Meanwhile, the school authorities stopped 13 students who came to attend the pre-preparatory examinations with Hijabs in the Shimoga district. The class X students reportedly insisted that they be allowed with the Hijabs which was turned down by the authorities.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai Sunday expressed confidence that peace and normalcy will prevail while announcing that a decision regarding the reopening of Pre-University and Degree colleges will be taken after assessing the situation. The government on Friday extended the holiday announced to universities belonging to the Department of Higher Education and colleges to February 16. Earlier on January 1, six girl students of a college in Udupi appeared in a media briefing organised by the Campus Front of India (CFI) in protest of protesting against the college authorities denying them entry into the classroom by wearing Hijab.
Days before it, they had asked the college principal for permission to wear Hijabs in classes. Till then, students were allowed to wear the Hijab in the campus and would remove it while entering the classroom, according to the college principal Rudre Gowda. "The institution did not have any rule on Hijab-wearing as such and since no one used to wear it to the classroom in the last 35 years. The students who came with the demand had the backing of outside forces," Rudre Gowda had said.
The state witnesses imposition of section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) in sensitive areas in the districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada, and Bengaluru as a fallout of protests against and in support of wearing Hijab. This prohibitory order will remain in force from 6 am on February 14 to 6 pm on February 19. As per the orders, it will encompass the area within a radius of 200 metres around the high schools.
It bans gathering of five or more people within this circle of schools, demonstrations and rallies, in raising slogans, singing songs and delivering speeches in the said areas.
Read: Hijab Row: Karnataka's Udupi BJP MLA receives 'threat' calls, declines police security
