SC hearing against Karnataka hijab order: Refusing to allow “forum shopping” by petitioners who were seeking adjournment of two weeks, the Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Karnataka government on pleas challenging the Karnataka High Court verdict upholding the ban on hijab in educational institutions of the state.
A bench of Justices Himanshu Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia issued notice to the state government and posted the matter for hearing on Monday, September 5.
The court’s observations came while it was hearing a batch of 23 petitions against the Karnataka government’s ban on wearing hijab in educational institutions in the state. While some of these pleas were filed directly before the Supreme Court seeking the right to wear hijab for Muslim girl students, others were special leave petitions challenging the March 15 order of the Karnataka High Court which upheld the hijab ban.
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Coming down heavily on the counsel for the appellants who sought adjournment on grounds that “advocates are coming from all over India, including some from Karnataka,” Justice Gupta said: “This is not acceptable to us. You wanted urgent listing and when the matter is listed, you want adjournment. We will not permit forum shopping.”
The Special Leave petitions were filed against the Karnataka HC’s March 15 verdict which refused to order a stay on a February 5 Government Order which, in effect, barred female Muslim students from wearing a headscarf in their pre-university colleges.
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A full bench of the Karnataka High Court had held that hijab was not an essential religious practice in Islam. The court had also held that the prescription of a uniform dress code in educational institutions was not violative of the fundamental rights of the petitioners.