In Hijab case (Resham v. State of Karnataka), today the Karnataka High Court upheld the order which was given by the Karnataka High Court which was restricting the entry of the Muslim girls wearing Hijab in the educational institutions in the state of Karnataka.
Judgement’s portion
“Our answers to the question are, wearing of the Hijab by Muslim women does not form essential religious practice in Islamic faith.
Our second answer is prescription of school uniform is only a reasonable restriction, constitutionally permissible which students cannot object to.
In view of the above, government has the power to issue the GO of the February 5 and no case is made out for its invalidation.
No case is made out for its issuance of disciplinary proceedings against respondents and writ of quo warranto is not maintainable.
All writ petitions being devoid of merits are dismissed.”
Issues raised by the Muslim girls
- According to them wearing of Hijab is one of the essential practice of their religion Islam. They have the right of freedom of expression so they can wear the Hijab and by imposing the restriction on them government was infringing their fundamental right given under Article 19(1) (a).
- Prescription of school uniform is violative of right.
Hearing background
The matter was first listed before the single bench of Justice Krishna S. Dixit, but the bench referred the matter to the larger bench as there were “questions of seminal importance” involved in this case.
The matter was now heard by the bench comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice Krishna S Dixit and Justice JM Kazhi. The hearing was conducted for 11 says and the judgement was reserved on 25 February.
Till the time the final order was passed an interim order was passed by the bench which put a restrain on the students to wear any sort of religious clothes in the educational institutions.
Initiation of the cause
This all started when the GO PU college denied the entry of few Muslim girls because they were wearing the Hijab in the college.
There was an order issued by the Karnataka GO on 5th February according to which banning of Hijab will not be violating Article 25 of the Constitution of India and order also said that students should be wearing the dress code which is prescribed by the respective College Development Committees. This order was contented by the Muslim girls.
Published by: Shivani Bhalke
Edited by: Subbuthai Padma
