Highlights
- Justice Dhulia said that asking girls to take off their hijab before they enter school gates is an invasion of privacy, an attack on dignity, and a denial of secular education.
- He said this is the time when children should learn not to be alarmed by our diversity but to rejoice and celebrate this, and also this is the time when they must realise that diversity is our strength.
- Justice Dhulia said if a girl wants to wear hijab, even inside her classroom, she cannot be stopped if it is worn as a matter of her choice.
The Supreme Court on Thursday delivered a split verdict in the highly polarising Karnataka Hijab ban case.
While Justices Hemant Gupta dismissed the appeals challenging the Karnataka High Court judgment, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia set aside the high court judgment and quashed the Karnataka government order dated February 5.
Since the SC bench delivered a split verdict, it has now been referred to the CJI to constitute a larger bench.
What Justice Dhulia’s order said
In his verdict quashing the Karnataka government order, Justice Dhulia made some serious observations on how the hijab ban was carried out in the state.
Justice Dhulia said that asking girls to take off their hijab before they enter school gates is an invasion of privacy, an attack on dignity, and a denial of secular education.
He said this is the time when children should learn not to be alarmed by our diversity but to rejoice and celebrate this, and also this is the time when they must realise that diversity is our strength.
Invasion of privacy, attack on dignity
“By asking the girls to take off their hijab before they enter the school gates, is first an invasion of their privacy, then it is an attack on their dignity, and then ultimately it is a denial to them of secular education. These are clearly violative of Article 19(1)(a), Article 21, and Article 25(1) of the Constitution,” Justice Dhulia said.
Justice Dhulia said there shall be no restriction on the wearing of hijab anywhere in schools and colleges in Karnataka. He added that the unfortunate fallout of the hijab restriction would be that they would have denied education to a girl child.
Hijab should be a matter of choice
“A girl child for whom it is still not easy to reach her school gate. This case here, therefore, has also to be seen from the perspective of the challenges already faced by a girl child in reaching her school. The question this court would put before itself is also whether we are making the life of a girl child any better by denying her education merely because she wears a hijab!” he said.
He added that the constitutional scheme, of wearing a hijab should be simply a matter of choice and it may or may not be a matter of essential religious practice, but it still is, a matter of conscience, belief, and expression.
Justice Dhulia said if a girl wants to wear hijab, even inside her classroom, she cannot be stopped, if it is worn as a matter of her choice, as it may be the only way her conservative family will permit her to go to school, and in those cases, her hijab is her ticket to education.
Hijab ban will continue: Karnataka government
However, following the split verdict that was delivered by the SC on Thursday, the Karnataka Government said that the ban on wearing hijabs will continue.
“There is no question of reversing the state government’s order issued on February 5, banning hijab and other religious symbols in educational institutions of the state. The uniform rule will continue in schools and pre-university colleges,” Karnataka Minister for Power, Kannada and Culture V Sunil Kumar said.
