Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday said Hijab was not part of the essential religious practice in Islamic faith and effectively upheld the ban against the headscarf in educational institutions in the state by dismissing pleas from Muslim girls seeking nod to wear it in classrooms.
A three-judge full bench of the High Court said the prescription of school uniform is only a reasonable restriction, constitutionally permissible which the students cannot object to, even as the aggrieved petitioner Muslim girls said they would continue their legal battle and termed today’s order as “unconstitutional.”
The court suggested the possibility of some ‘unseen hands’ behind the hijab row to engineer social unrest and disharmony and expressed dismay over the issue being blown out of proportion during the academic term.
The row that broke out at Udupi in January this year soon spread to other parts of the state before witnessing national repercussions, with voices for and against the headscarf, even as as it resonated in some foreign countries like Pakistan.
After having reserved its order on Feb 25, the court on Tuesday dismissed the batch of petitions from the Udupi-based Muslim girls who sought its nod for wearing hijab inside classrooms and also said there was no material placed on record to prima facie show wearing the headscarf was an essential religious practice.
Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi-led bench said, “we are of the considered opinion that wearing of Hijab by Muslim women does not form a part of essential religious practice in Islamic faith.”
The other two judges in the panel were Justice Krishna S Dixit and Justice J M Khazi.
The bench also maintained that the government has the power to issue the impugned order dated February 5, 2022, banning clothes which disturb equality, integrity and public order in schools and colleges, which the Muslim girls had challenged in the High Court.
It rejected the plea to initiate a disciplinary inquiry against the college, its principal and a teacher.
“In the above circumstances, all these writ petitions being devoid of merits are liable to be and accordingly are dismissed. In view of the dismissal of the writ petition, all the pending applications pale into insignificance and are accordingly disposed off,” the bench said in its order.
The court also said that school uniform will cease to be a uniform if hijab is also allowed.
“There is absolutely no material placed on record to prima facie show that wearing of Hijab is a part of an essential religious practice in Islam and that the petitioners have been wearing hijab from the beginning,” it said.
On the plea that hijab of the same colour as of the school uniform be allowed, the court said it was not impressed by this argument, saying it would establish a sense of “social-separateness”, which is not desirable.
“We are dismayed as to how all of a sudden that too in the middle of the academic term the issue of hijab is generated and blown out of proportion by the powers that be,” the bench noted.
Responding to the court verdict, the petitioners insisted they will not go to college without hijab and fight the case legally till they get “justice”.
“We had approached the High Court seeking permission to wear hijab in the classrooms. The order has come against us. We will not go to the college without hijab but we will fight for it. We will try all the legal ways. We will fight for justice and our rights,” one of the girls said in a press conference in Udupi.
“The verdict which came today is unconstitutional…the constitution itself provides us (our rights) to follow my religion and whatever I can wear,” the girl stated.
State Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said everyone should abide by the verdict of the High Court and cooperate with the state government in implementing it. It was a matter concerning the future and the education of students, and nothing was more important than education, he told reporters.
Primary and Secondary Education Minister B C Nagesh said efforts will be made to bring the ‘misguided’ Muslim girls to mainstream, even as he described the verdict as a “landmark” one. “We will try to win the hearts of those girls who were misguided,” he said.
BJP leaders–Union Minister Pralhad Joshi and Ravi Shankar Prasad also welcomed the court ruling.
The Campus Front of India, responding to the HC order, said the “court verdict on Hijab ban destructs the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.”
“The BJP regime is trying to implement their agenda and dehumanise a community and the High Court verdict can now be a catalyst for their polarising agenda,” CFI said in a statement uploaded on Twitter.
“It is an alarming sign that the judiciary interprets religious texts…we will never accept this anti-constitutional verdict and will continue all efforts to protect the constitution and individual rights,” it added.
Popular Front of India (PFI) insisted Hijab was an integral part of Islam and that courts should not interpret religion.
AIMIM leader and Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi sought to “disagree” with the HC judgement and wanted the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and organisations of other religious groups to appeal against the order.
“…If it is MY belief & faith that covering my head is essential then I have a right to EXPRESS it as I deem fit. For a devout Muslim, Hijab is also an act of worship.”
Banning headscarf definitely harms devout Muslim women and their families as it prevents them from accessing education, he added.
PDP leader and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti said, “Karnataka HC’s decision to uphold the Hijab ban is deeply disappointing
“On one hand we talk about empowering women yet we are denying them the right to a simple choice. Its isn’t just about religion but the freedom to choose,” she wrote on Twitter.
National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah said it was a “travesty” that the court did not uphold the basic right of a woman to choose how she wants to dress.
Incidentally, many countries, including Muslim-dominated ones like Syria, besides France, Denmark, China and Sri Lanka have banned some form of veils such as hijab and burqa, with differing degrees of restrictions, citing a number of varied reasons.
On January 1, six girl students of a college in Udupi attended a press conference held by Campus Front of India (CFI) in the coastal town protesting against the college authorities denying them entry into the classroom wearing Hijab.
This was four days after they requested the principal permission to wear Hijabs in classrooms which was not allowed. Till then, students used to wear Hijab to the campus and entered the classroom after removing the scarves, the college principal Rudre Gowda had said.
“The institution did not have any rule on Hijab-wearing as such and no one used to wear it to the classroom in the last 35 years. The students who came with the demand had the backing of outside forces,” Gowda had said. PTI

Press Trust of India