New Delhi: Five students from Karnataka approached the Supreme Court on Wednesday after the High Court turned down their request seeking permission to wear the hijab in educational institutions.The order was challenged in the Supreme Court by Niba Naaz, a student who was not among the five who had originally petitioned against the hijab ban.
The lawyer of the five original petitioners will appeal before the Chief Justice of India today and demand an early hearing in the case. The Karnataka High Court said on Tuesday that hijab is not an essential religious practice, upholding the ban on hijab in classrooms.
The Hijab row had erupted in January this year when the Government PU College in Udupi allegedly barred six girls wearing the hijab from entering. Following this, the girls sat in protest outside the college over being denied entry. After this, boys of several colleges in Udupi started attending classes wearing saffron scarves. This protest spread to other parts of the state as well leading to protests and agitations in several places in Karnataka.
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The Karnataka government intervened and said that all students must adhere to the uniform and banned both hijab and saffron scarves till an expert committee decided on the issue. The Karnataka High Court, while upholding the Karnataka government’s order, said that the prescription of uniform is a reasonable restriction that students could not object to. In its order, Karnataka High Court observed that the Holy Quran does not mandate the wearing of the hijab, and stated that it is a cultural practice and is used as apparel as a measure of social security.
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