The controversy, which started from a degree college in Udupi, Karnataka, has now reached the Karnataka High Court. The single bench has transferred the matter to a larger bench of the High Court.
Now Chief Justice of Karnataka Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice Krishna S Dixit, and Justice Jayabunisa Mohiuddin Khaji will hear this petition. The bench will start hearing on Thursday at 2.30 pm.
What's the matter?
When the girl students of a government college in Udupi, Karnataka were stopped from going to class wearing a hijab, they started protesting against it. His protest, which started in January 2022, got support. The local administration, the college administration, and the family members of the girl students tried to find a solution through talks, but the solution was not found. The girl students have reached the High Court regarding the right to wear hijab, where now the full bench is hearing it.
Meanwhile, some Hinduist groups insisted on the arrival of Hindu students wearing saffron shawls and gamchas. Students in Karnataka are divided into two groups. One is supporting the hijab and the other opposing it.
Politics has also taken place on the matter and there have been reports of controversy regarding hijab from many other parts of the country as well.
What does the constitution say?
Faizan Mustafa, the constitutional expert, and vice-chancellor of the Law University of Nalsar (NALSAR), Hyderabad, says the controversy over the hijab is more of a personal right than religion.
Faizan Mustafa says, "The Constitution gives certain individual rights to the citizens. Among these individual rights is the right to privacy, the right to religion, the right to life. There is the right to equality. Explaining the right to equality, the Supreme Court said That it also includes the right against arbitrariness. Any arbitrary law is a violation of the right to equality under Article 14 of the Constitution."
The question also arises whether educational institutions can prescribe dress codes or uniforms. Faizan Mustafa says, "The school has the right to set its dress code. But in setting it, it cannot violate any fundamental right."
So can any institute make rules regarding uniforms and force students to follow them?
Faizan Mustafa explains, "Under the Education Act, the institution does not have the right to prescribe uniforms. Even if an institution makes rules, those rules cannot be outside the purview of the law."
The question here is also about the right to freedom of religion guaranteed under the Constitution. Explaining its limitation, Faizan Mustafa says, "The extent of the right to freedom of religion is that it can be limited in the public interest, in morality and on grounds of health."
Now the question arises whether wearing hijab violates any such limit? On this Faizan Mustafa says, "It is clear that wearing someone's hijab is not an immoral act, nor is it against any public interest, nor is it a violation of any other fundamental right."
In this dispute, the important issue before the court is that on the one hand there is freedom of the institution and on the other, there is personal liberty.
Faizan Mustafa says, "So the court will have to make a cohesive decision in which it can say that we will not allow the full hijab in which you cover your face, but maybe allow the head covering or wearing a scarf."
Controversy has happened before
Controversies regarding hijab have been reaching the court even before this. In Kerala, the students of Christ Nagar Senior Secondary School went to court against the school's ban on wearing the hijab.
In his ruling in 2018, Kerala High Court Judge Justice A Mohammed Mushtaq had held that girl students have the same fundamental right to dress as they wish, like a school's decision to ensure that all students wear their prescribed uniforms. wear.
According to a report in the Deccan Herald, this decision of the Kerala High Court is being discussed a lot during the Karnataka Hijab controversy.
Then Fatima Tasneem and Hafza Parveen told the court that they were not being allowed to come to school wearing full sleeve shirts and niqabs. The school had dismissed these allegations saying that it was against the school's dress code.
Justice Mushtaq had ruled, "The effective interest in this matter lies with the management of the institution. If the management is not given full freedom in the running and management of the institution, then it will lead to a violation of their fundamental right. Defending a right by infringing is not.
The Constitution intends to assimilate those multiple interests within its plan without conflict or priority. However, when interests take precedence, the larger interests must be taken care of over individual interests. That is the essence of freedom."
Justice Mushtaq observed, "The conflict in competitive rights can be resolved not by infringing any individual right, but by maintaining a wider right, by maintaining this relationship between the institution and the students."
This decision of the High Court was immediately implemented by the Muslim Education Society (MES), an organization that runs more than a hundred educational institutions. Society had banned the niqab in its prospectus.
Constitutional expert Faizan Mustafa says that the decision of the Kerala High Court is not binding on the Karnataka High Court.
Controversy is increasing over Hijab
The controversy over the hijab has spread across the country from Udupi in Karnataka. Protests were held in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh area on Wednesday in support of Hijab.
Faizan Mustafa says, "If the issue of hijab becomes big, it will be a matter of great regret because the job of children is to study, not to do politics. The job of both the groups who support and oppose the hijab is to study. "
A video from Mandya in Karnataka has also gone viral in which Hindu students wearing saffron gamchas are raising slogans against a Muslim girl student for wearing a hijab. The student is also answering them by saying, Allahu Akbar.
The question has also been raised about the hijab that Muslim girls are trying to strengthen their identity through hijab. But Faizan Mustafa believes that this question is more important than recognition.
He says, "It's more a matter of personal liberty than religious freedom. Dress is part of one's expression. It's a kind of expression."
"Be it Shaheen Bagh or the issue of hijab, Muslim women have tried to demonstrate their constitutional rights strongly."
The matter of dispute on the hijab is currently in court and whatever decision will be taken can be challenged in the Supreme Court.
However, Faizan Mustafa believes that both sides should show flexibility. He says, "I think both groups will have to show some flexibility. In a modern progressive society, adopting a conservative attitude is not a good thing."
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