BENGALURU: The full bench of the Karnataka High Court will pronounce the much-awaited verdict on hijab row at 10.30 am on Tuesday.
The bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justices Krishna S Dixit and JM Khazi started hearing hijab petitions on February 10, 2022, and reserved the verdict on February 25, 2022 after hearing marathon arguments for two weeks on the petitions questioning a state government order dated February 5, 2022 banning hijab in schools and colleges. The petitions were filed by students of the Government PU College for Girls in Udupi and several others.
HC had passed interim order on Feb 10
The petitioners’ counsel argued that two judgments of Kerala and Madras High Courts, which went through Islamic verses and scriptures, concluded that purdah or burqa may not be an essential practice, but a headscarf or hijab is.
As a counter, the state government contended that hijab is not an essential religious practice. Citing several Supreme Court judgments, starting from Shirur Mutt to Sabarimala cases, the state counsel argued that petitioner-students placed zero material to substantiate their claim that wearing hijab is an essential religious practice under Article 25.
On February 10, 2022, the full bench passed an interim order, restraining all students, regardless of their religion or faith, to stop wearing garbs of religious significance, including saffron shawl (bhagwa), scarves, hijab, religious flags or the like within the classroom, pending consideration of the petitions.
The court made it clear that the interim order is confined to only institutions where college development committees have prescribed the student dress code/ uniform. Ahead of the Judgment on the Hijab row by the Karnataka High Court, Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Kamal Pant on Monday issued prohibitory orders inder Section 144 across the city. Accordingly, any kind of gatherings, agitations, protests and celebrations in public places is banned for a week.