By Shankar Raj*
Bengaluru: A full bench of the Karnataka High Court headed by Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and comprising Justices Krishna Dixit and JM Khazi today adjourned the case regarding the legality of wearing hijab in educational institutions to February 15, 2022.
The court heard the argument surrounding Article 25 of the Constitution which pertains to freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion. While the petitioners said this gives an absolute right, the court pointed out that the conditional clause should also be read. Article 25 (1) states that it is “subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion”.
Also read: Hijab row: Focus shifts to the Karnataka High Court
The petitioners argued that the government order giving colleges the right to decide whether to allow hijabs on campuses is ‘totally illegal’ as college committees do not have any legal basis.
Senior advocate Devadatt Kamat, representing the Muslim students of Kundapura college, argued that”to allow the College Development Committee to decide whether to allow students to wear headscarves or not is totally illegal. The only restriction that can be imposed under Article 25 is public order, which can only be imposed by the state. Can a college development committee consisting of an MLA and some subordinates decide on exercising fundamental freedom? How can a statutory authority be made the guardian of our fundamental rights?”
To this the court asked the advocate as to what constitutes public order.
Meanwhile, fresh petitions were filed Monday and the court asked the petitioners to submit all their urgent petitions at the appropriate urgent counter section of the court.
The high court will hear the matter again Tuesday.
Earlier Friday, the court passed an interim order asking students not to wear any religious dress to class in educational institutions that have prescribed uniforms.
Meanwhile, after a five-day break to cool communal tensions over the hijab ban row, high schools for up to Class X reopened in Karnataka Monday. Colleges are on holiday till February 16.
As a precautionary measure, prohibitory orders have been imposed near campuses for six days till Saturday in Udupi and Mangaluru. Section 144 of CrPC has been clamped around 200-metre radius of all the high schools from today till February 19, 2022.
*Shankar Raj is former Editor of The New Indian Express, Karnataka and Kerala, and writes regularly on current affairs.
