Wearing of hijab not essential religious practice in Islam, rules Karnataka High Court; upholds ban
Karnataka High Court on Tuesday dismissed various petitions challenging a ban on Hijab in education institutions. The Karnataka High Court said that wearing Hijab is not an essential religious practice of Islam.
The Karnataka High Court also said that no case is made out for invalidating the Government Order of February 5.
The full bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice Krishna S Dixit and Justice J M Khazi was constituted on February 9 on a petition filed by girls from Udupi who prayed that they should be allowed to wear Hijab even inside the classroom along with the school uniform as it was part of their faith.
The hijab protests in Karnataka began in January this year when some students of Government Girls PU college in the Udupi district of the state alleged that they had been barred from attending classes. During the protests, some students claimed they were denied entry into the college for wearing hijab.
Following this incident, students of different colleges arrived at Shanteshwar Education Trust in Vijayapura wearing saffron stoles. The situation was the same in several colleges in the Udupi district.
