NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday in its order partially stayed a circular issued by a Mumbai college that prohibited female students from wearing 'hijab, burqa, cap, and naqab' on campus, after observing that the "college's restrictions are unwarranted."
"There will be a stay of the circular (issued by the College) to the extent that it directs no hijab, cap or badge shall be worn", the court said, in its order. A two-judge bench of the top court, led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice P V Sanjay Kumar, passed the order and stayed the N.G. Acharya & D.K. Marathe College's circular which prohibited female students from wearing 'hijab, burqa, cap, and naqab' on campus.
"Girl students must have the freedom of choice in what they wear, and the college cannot impose bans," the apex court observed, while taking a dig at the college's controversial order. During the course of the hearing on Friday, the top court was surprised to hear the decision of the college, particularly, on the wearing of the hijab. It was apprised that the decision was taken to prevent students from revealing their religion. To this, the court, took it very seriously and objected to the decision.
"The person’s religious identity can be revealed by his/her name and not by the clothes he/she wears," the apex court observed and slammed the college authorities for such a circular on the dress code. The court went on to pose a number of questions to the college authorities, and asked why are they not banning 'tilak' and 'bindi' as well.
Underlining that there may be a religious expression (by wearing something legal), the apex court, however, clarified that burqas would not be permitted inside the classrooms and that no religious activities should occur on campus. The college, however, argued that wearing any dress and particularly hijab, was a prominent marker of Muslim identity and could encourage others to wear clothes, such as saffron shawls, identified with a specific religion. Hearing this, the court suggested Madhvi Divan, senior lawyer for the college, to instruct her client not to impose such a rule.
The apex court also warned that its interim order should not be misused and allowed the educational society the right to appeal in case of any perceived misuse. The court issued a notice to the Chembur Trombay Education Society, which manages the N G Acharya and D K Marathe College, and asked them to file a detailed response by November 18.
Primarily, the authorities of the NG Acharya & DK Marathe College, in Mumbai, had prescribed a dress code prohibiting their students from wearing hijab, naqab, burqa, stole, cap, etc., on campus. Against this order, a batch of petitions were filed by nine female students of the college challenging this dress code before the Bombay High Court.
Hearing these batch of pleas, the HC's two-judge bench, led by Justice AS Chandurkar and Justice Rajesh S Patil, had on June 26, while refusing to entertain these, said that the insistence for following the dress code is within the college premises and the petitioners' freedom of choice and expression is not otherwise affected.
Subsequently, these students moved the top court by filing an appeal before it by challenging the HC's order, and sought quashing of it. The petitioners challenged the dress code on the ground that restriction on hijab, naqab, burqa etc in the campus violates their fundamental rights. "Under the dress code, the dress of the students is expected to be formal and decent and should not reveal the religion of any student," the plea said.
Pointing out that the college was wrong in its order in trying to make a dress code, the plea of the students said that the dress code was arbitrary and discriminatory. "It infringes upon their right to choose their attire, their right to privacy, and right to expression under Article 19(1) (a) and their right to freedom of religion under Article 25 of the Constitution," it said.