Hijab row: SC to hear appeals challenging Karnataka HC order refusing to lift ban on hijab tomorrow

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday will hear a batch of petitions challenging the Karnataka High Court ruling that wearing Hijab was not an essential practice in Islam.

A two-judge bench headed by Justice Hemant Gupta and also comprising Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia will hear on August 29, Monday, the batch of appeals against the Karnataka High Court's order upholding the ban on wearing Hijab in educational institutions.

The High Court had passed a judgment on March 15, dismissing the petitions filed by a group of Muslim girl students against the Pre University (PU) government college for denying them entry while wearing Hijab.

The High Court bench led by Chief Justice Rituraj Awasthi, while dismissing the petitions, in its verdict stated that the practice of Hijab is not an essential practice under Islam and thus does not fall within the ambit of Article 25 of the Constitution of India.

The Karnataka HC had also held that prescription of school uniform is only a reasonable restriction, which is constitutionally permissible which the students cannot object to and stated that the government had the power to issue such notification and that no case was made out against the government notification.

After that various petitions had been filed before the Supreme Court challenging the March 15, 2022, judgment passed by the Karnataka HC, upholding the State Government's order of February 05, 2022, which has effectively prohibited petitioners, and other such girl Muslim students from wearing the headscarf in their PU colleges.

A Full Bench of the Karnataka High Court, comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice Krishna Dixit and Justice JM Khazi, in its judgement had held that wearing of Hijab by women was not an essential religious practice of Islam.

The petitions filed before the Supreme Court sought setting aside the Karnataka High Court's order and allowing to wear Hijab in educational institutions. (UNI)