Supreme Court agrees to list pleas against hijab ban in educational institutions

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to list appeals against the Karnataka High Court order upholding the hijab ban in educational institutions soonSenior Advocate Meenakshi Arora on Tuesday mentioned in the Supreme Court appeals against Karnataka High Court order upholding hijab ban in educational institutionsChief Justice of India NV Ramana asked her to wait for two days and said that he will list it soonVarious petitioners have approached the apex court challenging the Karnataka High Court order upholding the Karnataka governments order which directs strict enforcement of schools and colleges uniform rulesOne of the appeals in the top court has alleged stepmotherly behaviour of government authorities which has prevented students from practising their faith and resulted in an unwanted law and order situationThe appeal said the High Court in its impugned order had vehemently failed to apply its mind and was unable to understand the gravity of the situation as well as the core aspect of the Essential Religious Practices enshrined under Article 25 of the Constitution of IndiaWearing of hijab or headscarf is a practice that is essential to the practice of Islam it addedA bench of Karnataka High Court comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi Justice Krishna S Dixit and Justice JM Khazi had held that the prescription of uniforms is a reasonable restriction that students could not object to and dismissed various petitions challenging a ban on hijab in education institutions saying they are without meritThe 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 college over being denied entryAfter 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 KarnatakaAs a result the Karnataka government said that all students must adhere to the uniform and banned both hijab and saffron scarves till an expert committee decided on the issueOn February 5 the preUniversity education board released a circular stating that the students could only wear the uniform approved by the school administration and no other religious attire would be allowed in collegesThe order stated that in case a uniform is not prescribed by management committees then students should wear dresses that go well with the idea of equality and unity and do not disturb the social orderA batch of petitions was filed against the governments rule in the Karnataka High Court by some girls seeking permission to wear the hijab in educational institutionsOn February 10 the High Court issued an interim order stating that students should not wear any religious attire to classes till the court issued the final orderThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever