CJI Agrees to List Appeals Against Karnataka HC’s Hijab Judgment in 2 Days

by Abbas Adil

The Chief Justice of India has agreed to list the hijab case appeal in two days. The CJI Ramana stated, “I will list it, wait for two days”, to senior advocate Meenakshi Arora when she raised the petition filed against the Karnataka high court’s judgement in the hijab case for urgent listing, reports Livelaw.

The Special Leave Petition has been booked against the judgement passed on March 15 by the HC of Karnataka supporting the government order dated 5 February, which has effectively prohibited Petitioners, and other such female Muslim students from wearing the headscarf in their Pre-University Colleges.

A Full Bench of the Karnataka High Court comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice Krishna Dixit and Justice JM Khazi held that wearing of hijab by women was not an essential religious practice of Islam. The Bench further held the prescription of uniform dress code in educational institutions was not violative of the fundamental rights of the petiitoners.

The petitioners sought urgent listing of the petition by stating that though it was registered on 30.03.2022, despite passage of one month, it has not been listed for hearing, in the normal course.

Advocate-on-Record Shadan Farasat, listed two reasons in the application:

Firstly, the petitioners and other Muslim girls are being denied permission to write their annual PUC examination unless they take off their headscarves.

Secondly, in light of the impugned judgment, a large number of Muslim girls who are similarly situated to the Petitioner, are being forced to drop out of their respective educational institutions across the State, severely hampering their right to education.
Last month, the CJI turned down a plea for the urgent listing of the appeals against the Karnataka high court’s verdict sustaining the hijab ban in schools and colleges.

The CJI said, “exams have no connection with this issue,” when the petitioner’s counsel said that Muslim students won’t be able to attend exams.

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