Hijab ban row: Interim order 'suspends fundamental rights', petitioners tell HC; hearing to resume tomorrow

In the latest developments on the hijab ban row on Tuesday, petitioners told the Karnataka High Court that the interim order in effect suspends fundamental rights and urged the court not to continue the current order, according to several media reports. Indian Constitution provides positive secularism and all faiths have to be recognised, the petitioners added. Advocate Devadatt Kamat, appearing for the petitioners, said: “The essence of Article 25 is that it protects the practice of faith but not a mere display of religious identity or jingoism.” The petitioners urged the high court to allow “voluntary expression”. After much wrangling, the hearing was deferred till tomorrow. As per Live Law, Kamat said, “When I was in school and college I used to wear rudraksha. It was not to display my religious identity. It was a practice of faith because it gave me security. We see many judges and senior lawyers wearing such customary things. To counter that, if somebody wears a shawl, you will have to show that is it a display of religious identity alone or is it something more. If it is sanctioned by  Hinduism, by our Vedas or Upanishads then the court is duty-bound to protect it.” “It cannot be that by Education Act you can curb religious beliefs. Otherwise, it is a very dangerous proposition. The State will say there is an Act and based on that we will curb somebody’s freedom,” Kamat added. Drawing parallels from a judgment in South Africa regarding a girl being allowed to wear a nose ring, Kamat said we should celebrate if students are wearing namams or other religious symbols, as per Live Law. Kamat also mentioned a Canada judgment that permitted a Sikh student to wear Kirpan to school. He added that the State cannot create a facile argument that public order is disrupted and it has to create a positive environment facilitating the enjoyment of rights. “If the State says if somebody wears a headscarf and it will lead to galata, therefore we cannot allow it,  that is an impermissible argument. When your lordships passed the order last day, probably your lordships had secularism in mind. But our secularism is not Turkey secularism. Ours is positive secularism. We recognise all religions as true,” Kamat said. “I respectfully submit that the sweep of your lordship’s order is extremely broad and it is in the teeth of Article 25 and other rights. Kindly make some leeway. In the meanwhile permit us to wear the head scarf in addition to the uniform. Consideration will take time,” Kamat added. Senior advocate professor Ravivarma Kumar began his submissions by asking the bench to take note of the fact that there was no ban on wearing hijab by any student much less by the religious minority community. He added, “GO says CDC will prescribe it. Till then, clothes which do not threaten public order, equality or unity must be worn, it say.” “Education Act is a complete code. This College Development Committee is a non-existent body under the statute. It is an extra-legal authority that is now endowed with the power to prescribe the uniform, contrary to the scheme of the act and letter of the rules,” said Kumar. Kumar said, “Colleges are reopening tomorrow. I, therefore, submit that application I made yesterday.” As per Live Law, the application alleges misuse of HC order by authorities by preventing hijab-wearing girls and teachers. Amid the ongoing controversy, some students were asked to sit in a separate room as they refused to appear for exams without wearing their headscarves in Shivmogga and Udupi cities of the state, ANI reported. Few students of Karnataka Public School in Nellihudikeri in Kodagu district staged a protest against the hijab ban. Parents who were standing outside the schools informed that the school administration also asked students to appear for exams without hijab. Speaking to the media, Haseena, parent of a student said, “I’m not sending her to school after a ban on hijab in school. I have sent them to school for the past two days as they had preparatory exams for Class 10. But some students were asked to sit in a separate room yesterday because they denied removing hijab.” “Nothing like this happened earlier. Till now, many from our family have studied in this school wearing hijab. Why is there a sudden change in rules?,” she said. As per ANI, a man whose niece is a student said, “I’ll bring my niece to school only after the court verdict. Education is important but hijab is most important to us”. Abdul, another parent also stated that students who came wearing hijab, are being asked to sit in a separate room in the school. Meanwhile, some students skipped exams as they were forced to enter the school premises without their traditional headscarves, ANI reported. The pre-university education board had released a circular stating that students can wear only the uniform approved by the school administration and no other religious practices will be allowed in colleges. Meanwhile, the Karnataka High Court also appealed to the student community and the public at large to maintain peace and tranquillity while hearing various pleas challenging a ban on hijab in the state. Kamat, appearing for the petitioners, on Monday, told the Karnataka High Court that leaving it to the college committee to decide whether the hijab is allowed or not is totally illegal, ANI said. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.