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Source: The post is based on an article “Supreme Court’s split verdict on hijab frames a fraught issue and offers a starting point for the larger bench” published in The Indian Express on 14th October 2022.
Syllabus: GS 2 – Governance
Relevance: SC views on the Hijab case of Karnataka
News: The issue of Hijab in the dress code occurred when Muslim students in the government-run Pre-Government College in Karnataka’s Udupi district were prevented from entering classrooms on account of wearing hijab.
The state government further ordered that colleges should ensure that clothes which disturb, equality, integrity and law and order shouldn’t be worn.
The Karnataka HC ratified this order on March 15 by invoking the essential practices doctrine. The order of the Karnataka court was further challenged in the SC.
What was SC judgment in the Hijab case?
The Supreme Court couldn’t arrive at a unanimous decision and it has referred the case to the senior bench. However, there were different views given by the judges on the case.
Justice Hemant Gupta agreed with the Karnataka government and said that order of the government was only to “promote uniformity and encourage a secular environment” in the classroom.
However, Justice Dhulia emphasized that core issue is “a matter of choice” and a concern regarding education.
He further said that this case has also to be seen in the perspective of the challenges already faced by a girl child in reaching her school.
He invoked the verdict of SC in the Bijoe Emmanuel (1986) case and said that the issue is of the choice and whether we are making the life of a girl child better by denying her education only because of hijab.
Moreover, the situation of closing gates for Muslim students’ girls wearing head scarf could be a setback for the education amongst the girls of the minority community.
It is the education that has empowered the young girls to fight for their rights. Therefore, it is expected from SC to come up with a balanced judgment.
