Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday refused to grant relief to a student who was not allowed to attend lectures allegedly because she was wearing a hijaab , and directed that she attend repeat lectures and appear for the repeat exams.
A Division Bench of Justice S.J. Kathawalla and Justice A.S. Gadkari was hearing a plea filed by Fakeha Badami, a first-year student at Sai Homeopathic Medical College, Thane.
Through her advocate Sariputta Sarnath, Ms. Badami alleged the college threatened all Muslim girl students that they should either stop wearing hijaab or stop attending lectures.
When she continued to wear hijaab , discriminatory treatment was meted out to her, and she was harassed. Her parents told the college that it is impossible for her to stop wearing since it’s a religious practice. The petition read, “The college neither issued a prospectus nor information was displayed on the college website with respect to uniform dress code. She also wrote to the Maharashtra Human Rights Commission on October 30, 2017.”
The college denied attendance to her for all the lectures held in the first year, and she sought to quash the letter issued by the university, which does not allow her to appear for the first-year exams.
The court said she has attended only 28 classes, and without attending the requisite number of classes, they cannot allow her to appear for the exams. The court took an undertaking from the college to permit her to attend classes with hijaab till November, and said, “We hope after she attends the repeat lectures and appears for the exams, the college allows her with hijaab to attend classes .”
