Karnataka Hijab ban: ‘Can you take right to practise religion to school with uniform?,’ says SC

“We will concede for a moment that you have a right to wear a scarf or hijab wherever you feel like, but can you carry that hijab to a school where uniform is prescribed,” Justice Hemant Gupta asked Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde, who appeared for one of the petitioners.

On the argument that the Karnataka Education Act, 1983, was being invoked to deny education to some sections, the bench, also comprising Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, said: “They are not saying that they are denying any right. What the state is saying is that you come with a uniform which is prescribed for the students.”

The senior counsel tried to draw parallels between a “chunni” (dupatta) and “hijab”, saying the former was already part of the uniform, but the court pointed out that the two couldn’t be compared.

There is a “lot of difference”, said Justice Dhulia. “If you are depicting a chunni as a hijab, you are probably not right. Chunni is used to cover the shoulders,” said Justice Gupta.

As Hedge submitted that a chunni is also used by women to cover their heads in the presence of elders, Justice Gupta said: “No, in Punjab that is not the culture. Sikh women use it to cover their heads when going to gurudwara to pay obeisance. Nothing more than that.”

Senior Advocate Rajeev Dhavan. who also appeared for the appellants, said as the matter involved constitutional issues like whether wearing a hijab is an essential religious practice, a Constitution Bench needs to look into it.

Justice Gupta said the question could be modulated in a different way. “It may or may not be an essential practice. But in a government institution, can you insist on religious practices? The Preamble to our Constitution says secular country,” he said.

Dhavan said he has seen judges wearing tilak in court. The senior counsel added that in Court 2, there is a painting of a judge wearing a pagdi.

The bench responded that “wearing it (pagdi) was a practice in royal states”. Justice Gupta said his grandfather used to wear a pagdi while practicing law. “Don’t equate it with religious insignia,” he said.

Pointing out that France practises a strict form of secularism, Dhavan said the issue before the SC “concerns a huge number, millions, who comply with the dress code but also want to wear a hijab. This is a constitutional question”.

He said the world would be watching the Supreme Court’s decision. “Hijab is something that affects a large number of countries and civilisations,” he said, adding that the SC’s decision will be of “momentous” importance.

Recalling the developments leading to the Government Order (GO) on February 5 this year, Karnataka Advocate General P K Navadgi said there was unrest, and some educational institutions and district authorities had written to the government seeking guidance.

He said the GO only says that students shall wear uniform as determined by their governing bodies. “State was very conscious that we will not prescribe uniforms to every institution. All that we say is Rule 11 of the Karnataka Education Prescription of Curricular Rules provides that it is for every recognised educational institution to prescribe a uniform to its students. Therefore, since you are seeking directions from us…we hereby direct all educational institutions to prescribe a uniform for their students,” he said.

“Pursuant to this, educational institutions in the state prescribed uniforms to their students. Some of them chose to prohibit wearing hijab. Those resolutions or decisions of government or private schools have not been called into question. The challenge came before HC of this GO. My argument before the HC, which was accepted, is this: GO does not interdict any of the rights of the petitioners. We do not say wear hijab or do not wear… All that we say is follow Rule 11,” he said.

He said that when the students realised that institutions invoked Rule 11 to prohibit wearing hijab, they elevated their argument to say this was part of religious practices and violated rights under Article 25.

In government colleges, authority was given to the college development council comprising representatives of students, parents, teachers, local MLA, two members of Scheduled Caste, and two members of Scheduled Tribe etc, to prescribe the uniform, he said. In the case of private educational institutions, they have a governing body which prescribes the dress.

To a query from the bench, he said there may be some recognised private educational institutions which have allowed the hijab. and added that they are free to take the decision. There may be educational institutions run by Islamic managements which have allowed it, he added.

Earlier in the hearing, Hegde questioned the scope of the Karnataka Education Act and Rules and asked: “Can you (student) be debarred from the classroom if you wear a particular dress? Can you make education to women contingent on their attire? Can you exclude someone from a college just because you think they wear a uniform that does not subscribe to the dress code? Can you tell a grown woman that she will not have control over her own idea of modesty?”

He contended that the college development council comprises the local MLA and politicians, and has no legal sanctity under the Act.

Justice Gupta pointed out that a golf course also has a dress code. “Can we say we will not follow it,” he said. Hegde responded that a golf course is a private property. The bench pointed out that it is a public space.

The bench then referred to restaurants which have a dress code. Hegde replied that everything comes down to context.

To Hegde’s argument about the kind of education that the 1983 Act envisages, the court asked “whether it prohibits any fixation of dress culture? That the students can come in minis, midis, whatever they want?”

Hegde replied that there is no such prescription at all. The bench responded that in that case, “the executive power of the state will come in”.

The arguments remained inconclusive and will continue on Wednesday.

On March 15, a full bench of the Karnataka High Court had dismissed a batch of petitions filed by Muslim girls studying in pre-university colleges in Udupi, seeking the right to wear the hijab in classrooms. The HC had stated that wearing the hijab is not an essential religious practice in Islam and that the Freedom of Religion under Article 25 of the Constitution is subject to reasonable restrictions.

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The HC had also upheld the government order issued on February 5, which suggested that wearing hijabs can be restricted in government colleges where uniforms are prescribed, and ruled that such curbs under norms for college uniforms are “constitutionally permissible”.

A clutch of petitions and appeals were filed in the Supreme Court challenging this.