The SC reserved its judgment on the law prohibiting Muslim students from wearing hijabs in classrooms

Bench: Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia 

On September 22, the Supreme Court reserved its judgment on a batch of petitions challenging the law prohibiting Muslim students from wearing hijabs in classrooms. After hearing the parties for petitioner-students and the State, the bench passed the verdict for ten days. 

The students filed an appeal against the Karnataka High Court judgment, which held that the restriction on hijab in classrooms was reasonable. The HC held that the hijab was not an essential religious practice in Islam. Hence, the present appeal.

ARGUMENTS

The state argued before the top court that it has the power to order educational institutions to follow uniform discipline. The order was religion-neutral and did not differentiate one student from the other.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta claimed that the controversy was triggered by the Popular Front of India through social media.

Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, for the students, argued that freedom to choose what to wear and freedom of faith would not diminish inside a classroom.

Senior advocates Rajeev Dhavan, Devadatta Kamat, and other lawyers, appearing for the petitioners argued that the State did not present a valid reason for restricting the religious freedom of the Muslim students. In addition, they argued that the State did not present even one shred of evidence that a few students wearing hijab in their classrooms, along with their uniforms, violated public order, health, and morality.

Lawyers argued that Karnataka had not provided evidence to support their claim that students wearing hijabs were violating their fundamental rights.

The petitioners claimed the allegation about PFI's involvement was quite new and was not raised in the High Court earlier. Further, the State had not placed any material on record to back its allegation.