A three-judge Bench of the High Court of Karnataka, headed by Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, will on Tuesday pronounce its verdict on the petitions related to the row over wearing hijab in educational institutions.
The Bench, also comprising Justice Krishna S. Dixit and Justice J.M. Khazi, had on February 25 reserved its verdict on completion of hearing on petitions filed by nine Muslim girl students studying in two government pre-university colleges in Udupi district.
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The petitioner-students sought a declaration from the court that wearing hijab (headscarf) inside classrooms in educational institutions was their fundamental right to freedom of religion.
The main contention of the petitioners was that hijab was an essential practice for women as per Islamic faith and the government or educational institutions could not stop them from wearing it while attending classes.
The Bench, in its interim order passed on February 10, restrained all students regardless of their religion or faith from wearing saffron shawls (bhagwa), scarfs, hijab, religious flags or the like in classrooms until further orders on the petitions.
Initially the Bench had said that its interim order was confined to such institutions wherein the College Development Committees had prescribed the student dress code/uniform. However, on a clarification sought on behalf of one of the petitioners, the Bench on February 23 made it clear that the interim order applied to pre-university and degree colleges where dress code had been prescribed by the respective authorities.
