CJI refuses urgent hearing for Karnataka hijab lobby, sets date after Holi vacation while state govt says no hijabs allowed in exam centres

The Supreme Court today said that it will set up a bench to hear the plea against the hijab ban in schools in Karnataka after the Holi vacation. The lawyer appearing on behalf of the Shariat committee said that the matter required an urgent hearing as the Pre University exams in the state will begin on the 9th of March. Chief Justice DY Chandrachud recognized the urgency of the matter but said that it should not have been brought up on the last day of work before Holi Vacation.

It is to be noted that the matter was brought before the court in January after the Karnataka High Court upheld the Government Order banning the wearing of hijab in government schools and colleges.

The lawyer representing the Shariat committee said ” The exams will begin in five days”, to which the CJI replied, “why are you coming on the last day?”

CJI: We will hear on March 17.
Counsel: Exams are starting in five days..
CJI: You have come to us so late…
Counsel: This has been mentioned twice.
CJI: March 17
Counsel: But what should we do now?
CJI: I can't answer that question..#hijab #SupremeCourtOfIndia— LawBeat (@LawBeatInd) March 3, 2023

The lawyer further added that many girls had shifted from government colleges to private ones just so they could go to college wearing hijabs. But exams happen in government colleges and girls are barred from wearing hijabs there.

The SC refused to grant the wishes of the counsel for an urgent hearing, and gave the next date of hearing for March 17, after the Holi vacation.

On the counsel’s pleading that the Hijab girls have missed one year of college and might miss another year if they are not allowed to wear hijab inside the exam halls, and what would they do now as the exams are starting in 5 days, the CJI said that he cannot answer that question.

As per reports, on February 22, advocate Advocate Shadan Farasat had mentioned the matter for seeking interim directions to allow the hijab-wearing Muslim students to attend the PUC exams by wearing their religious headscarves.

The Karnataka government has made it clear that no hijabs will be allowed inside exam centres. The Karnataka hijab controversy had broken in 2021 when a few Muslim girls in Udupi suddenly started wearing hijabs inside the college in defiance of the uniform dress code. The college and the government had clear orders that all students have to comply with the uniform dress code and no religious garments will be allowed. The matter soon snowballed into a debate, then a political controversy.

Eventually, the Taliban, which has restricted girls in Afghanistan even from basic education, also started supporting the hijab girls.

Earlier, the High Court of Karnataka upheld the government order stating that all students will have to comply by the uniform dress code inside educational institutions.

The hijab girls, who are just a few among over a hundred Muslim girls in that college in Udupi, had stated that the hijab is more important to them than their education and had preferred to miss their exams last year too.