The Supreme Court is scheduled to deliver its ruling on Thursday on a plethora of petitions that challenge the Karnataka government’s February 5 decision that prohibited the wearing of hijab in classrooms.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to decide on Thursday on a series of petitions that challenge the Karnataka government’s order of February 5 that prohibited the wearing of hijab in classrooms of pre-university schools.
The apex court’s website the bench will announce the verdict on October 13.
Following 10 days of exhausting hearings, on the 22nd of September an apex court bench consisting comprised of justices Hemant Gupta as well as Sudhanshu Dhulia reserved their judgment after hearing arguments from lawyers representing teachers, the government of the state and petitioners, who petitioned the apex courts to challenge rulings of the Karnataka High Court verdict refusing to lift the hijab prohibition in schools and colleges in the state.
In the court hearing, the petitioners claimed that the court had erred in relying on an the essential test of religious practice to determine the need.
The Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Karnataka government, had stated that, up to 2021, there was no girl who had a hijab on and uniforms, which are an the fundamental discipline of schools was strictly followed. Then, a campaign was launched on social media was spearheaded by an organization known as Popular Front of India (PFI) and was designed to cause uproar. Mehta stated that there were messages on social media encouraging people to start wearing hijabs. This was not a random decision, rather it was an element of a larger conspiracy that was involving children, who were doing in accordance with the advice.
The senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, representing some of the petitioners, argued that the argument made by PFI was not brought before the court of appeals and that it was an argument that was introduced to cause prejudice.
The petitioners claimed that the Karnataka Government Order (GO) was aimed at Muslim women and infringed on Articles 14 as well as 15 in the Constitution. It was, therefore, absurd, unconstitutional and arbitrary.
The senior advocate Dushyant Dave, representing some of the petitioners making rejoinders to the petition, stated that for those who believe the hijab is necessary and for those who aren’t religious, it’s not necessary. He also said there was no reason for announcing guidelines before February of this year.
The counsel for the petitioners strongly asserted that the law was in violation of their fundamental right to practise the religion of their choice and to exercise their rights as a cultural person that were protected by the Constitution.
Dave said his opinion that Dave argued that the Department of Education had issued guidelines for the school period 2021-2022. According to the guidelines, uniforms are not required. So, the Karnataka GO dated February 5 cannot be a substitute for the guidelines, he explained.
An array of other prominent advocates — Rajeev Davan, Kapil Sibal, Colin Gonsalves, Devadatt Kamat, Sanjay Hegde, Salman Khurshid represented petitioners before the Apex Court.
In the Karnataka administration was represented by the Solicitor General Mehta and Advocate General Prabhuling K. Navadgi.
The order issued by the state government on February 5, 2022 , was upheld by a few Muslim girls in the High Court.
A number of pleas have been filed with the apex courts to challenge the verdict of the high court.
