Karnataka HC expresses dismay over hijab imbroglio, says ‘hidden hands’ theory may be true

The High Court has in its order also directed speedy and effective investigation into the provocations for the protests on the basis of a confidential report that was given to the court by the state police through the state advocate general Prabhuling Navadagi.

“We are dismayed as to how all of a sudden that too in the middle of the academic term the issue of hijab is generated and blown out of proportion by the powers that be. The way, hijab imbroglio unfolded gives scope for the argument that some ‘unseen hands’ are at work to engineer social unrest and disharmony,” the High Court stated in its order.

“Much is not necessary to specify. We are not commenting on the ongoing police investigation lest it should be affected. We have perused and returned copies of the police papers that were furnished to us in a sealed cover. We expect a speedy and effective investigation into the matter and culprits being brought to book, brooking no delay,” the court has stated in its judgment on the hijab row that was delivered Tuesday morning.

The full bench comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice Krishna Dixit and Justice J M Khazi dismissed the pleas filed by the Muslim girls from the government pre university colleges in the Udupi region for recognising hijab as a part of their fundamental right to religion.

The High Court dismissed the pleas on the grounds that wearing of the hijab is not an essential religious practice in Islam and that it is subject to reasonable restrictions like school/college uniform norms imposed by institutions.

In the course of the hearing of the petitions by the girls from government colleges in Udupi, the High Court was informed by the state government that the agitation over the hijab issue was non-existent prior to December 2021 and that it was fomented by groups.

The issue has come up only in the recent days on account of students “being brainwashed by some fundamentalist Muslim organizations like Popular Front of India, Campus Front of India, Jamaat-e-Islami, and Students Islamic Organization of India,” the High Court noted in its order as a part of the recording of the arguments of the Karnataka government.

“An FIR is also registered. Police papers are furnished to the court in a sealed cover since investigation is half way through. Otherwise, the students and parents of the Muslim community do not have any issue at all. Therefore, they cannot now turn around and contend or act to the contrary,” the court said referring to the state’s arguments.

The Karnataka government has claimed that an order of February 5, 2022 allowing the restrictions of the hijab in government colleges was necessary “in the backdrop of social unrest and agitations within the educational institutions and without engineered by Popular Front of India, Students Islamic Organization of India, Campus Front of India and Jamaat-e-Islami”.

“Since how long all the petitioners have been wearing hijab is not specifically pleaded. The plea with regard to wearing of hijab before they joined this institution is militantly absent. No explanation is offered for giving an undertaking at the time of admission to the course that they would abide by school discipline,” the HC observed in its order Tuesday.

The bench also rejected comparisons by the students with central syllabus schools like the Kendriya Vidyalayas where the hijab is allowed to be worn with the school uniform.

“The counsel for the petitioners passionately submitted that the students should be permitted to wear hijab of structure and colour that suit the prescribed dress code. In support of this, they bank upon the ‘principle of reasonable accommodation’. They drew our attention to the prevalent practice of dress codes/uniforms in Kendriya Vidyalayas,” the court observed in its order before rejecting the comparison.

“We are not impressed by this argument. Reasons are not far to seek: firstly, such a proposal if accepted, the school uniform ceases to be uniform. There shall be two categories of girl students viz., those who wear the uniform with hijab and those who do it without. That would establish a sense of ‘social-separateness’, which is not desirable. It also offends the feel of uniformity which the dress-code is designed to bring about amongst all the students regardless of their religion and faiths,” the bench said.

“What the Kendriya Vidyalayas prescribe as uniform/dress code is left to the policy of the Central Government. Ours being a kind of federal structure the federal units, namely the states need not toe the line of center,” the court observed.

“Young students are able to readily grasp from their immediate environment, differentiating lines of race, region, religion, language, caste, place of birth, etc. The aim of the regulation is to create a ‘safe space’ where such divisive lines should have no place and the ideals of egalitarianism should be readily apparent to all students alike,” the High Court said.

“Prescription of school dress code to the exclusion of hijab, bhagwa, or any other apparel symbolic of religion can be a step forward in the direction of emancipation and more particularly, to the access to education. It hardly needs to be stated that this does not rob off the autonomy of women or their right to education, in as much as they can wear any apparel of their choice outside the classroom,” the bench said in its 129-page order.