Reiterating that Hijab is not an essential religious practice, the Karnataka government on Tuesday submitted in the High Court that there is no restriction on wearing hijab on campus and that it is only in the classroom and during class hours.
Making submissions before the full bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice J M Khazi and Justice Krishna M Dixit, formed to look into the petitions on hijab row, Advocate General Prabhuling Navadgi said that the right to wear hijab under Article 19 right can be restricted under Article 19 (2). In the present case, he said, Rule 11 places a reasonable restriction inside the institutions, adding that it is subject to institutional discipline.
“It is Rule 11 which imposes reasonable restrictions on wearing a headscarf. The independent claim of Art 19(1) cannot go together with the claim of Art 25,” Navadgi said.
“I don’t think I need to dwell much on the reasonableness of prescribing uniforms for schools and students. Preamble of the Karnataka Education Act mentions secular outlook,” the AG said.
“Also there is no restriction on wearing hijab on campus. It is only in the classroom and during class hours. It is uniformly applicable to all irrespective of religion,” he said.
The AG then noted that there is a total ban on hijab in France in public life to say, “But I don’t think anyone can say there is no Islamic religion in that country.”
As soon as the court proceedings began today, a lawyer appearing for the petitioner girls requested the full bench of the High Court for some relaxation to the Muslim girls who wish to appear in the schools and colleges with Hijab.
The HC said it wishes to dispose of the case this week itself and sought the cooperation of all the parties involved. The Chief Justice said, “We want to finish this case this week itself. Make all endeavours to finish this case by the end of this week.”
The row over Hijab started when a few students of a government pre-university college in Udupi, attending classes in headscarves, were asked to leave the campus last month. The matter then spread to different parts of the state, with other community students responding by wearing saffron scarves.
The matter reached the High Court which in its interim order restrained all the students from wearing saffron shawls, scarves, hijab and any religious flag within the classroom.
