The lawyers appearing for the state had argued that the Karnataka government order that sparked up the controversy was “religion neutral”.
New Delhi: Following a split verdict on hijab ban, the Supreme Court today directed that appeals against a Karnataka High Court order be placed before the Chief Justice of India for the setting up of a larger bench.
Justice Hemant Gupta dismissed the appeals against the High Court verdict refusing to lift the ban on the hijab in educational institutions.
“There is a divergence of opinion,” said Justice Gupta, agreeing with the High Court ruling.
Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia said: “I have a different view and I am allowing the appeal.”
The main thrust, he said, should have been a matter of choice.
“It’s ultimately a matter of choice, nothing more, nothing else,” said Justice Dhulia.
“Upper most in my mind was the education of the girl child. One thing which was topmost for me was education of Girl Child. I respectfully disagree with my brother judge,” he said.
During the arguments, lawyers appearing for the petitioners had insisted that preventing the Muslim girls from wearing the hijab to the classroom will jeopardise their education as they might stop attending classes.
They had raised various aspects, including on the state government’s February 5, 2022 order which banned wearing clothes that disturb equality, integrity, and public order in schools and colleges and had compared hijabs to the ghoongat or bindis worn by Hindus and turbans by Sikhs.
The lawyers appearing for the state had argued that the Karnataka government order that sparked up the controversy was “religion neutral”.
Insisting that the agitation in support of wearing hijab in educational institutions was not a “spontaneous act” by a few individuals, the state’s counsel had argued in the Supreme Court that the government would have been “guilty of dereliction of constitutional duty” if it had not acted the way it did.
On March 15, the high court had dismissed the petitions filed by a section of Muslim students of the Government Pre-University Girls College in Karnataka’s Udupi seeking permission to wear the hijab inside classrooms, ruling it is not a part of the essential religious practice in Islamic faith.
The state government’s order of February 5, 2022 was challenged by some Muslim girls in the high court. Several pleas have been filed in the top court challenging the high court verdict.
