The appeal in the hijab case will be heard in two days, according to India’s Chief Justice. When senior advocate Meenakshi Arora asked for an urgent listing of the petition filed against the Karnataka high court’s decision in the hijab case, CJI Ramana replied, “I will list it, wait two days.”
The Special Leave Petition was filed in response to the Karnataka High Court’s decision on March 15. Petitioners and female Muslim students were barred from wearing the headscarf in their Pre-university colleges as a result of their support for the government order dated February 5.
The wearing of hijab by women is not a part of religious practice in Islam, according to a high court bench consisting of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice Krishna Dixit, and Justice JM Khazi. The bench also stated that the petitioners’ fundamental rights were not violated by the suggestion of a uniform dress code in educational institutions.
Despite the filing of an urgent listing petition on March 30, the case has yet to be scheduled for a hearing.
In the application, Advocate-on-Record Shadan Farasat listed two reasons:
To begin with, the petitioners and other Muslim girls are being denied permission to sit for their annual PUC exam unless they remove their headscarves.
Second, a large number of hijab-wearing Muslim girls, like the petitioners, have been forced to drop out as a result of the disputed judgement.
The CJI recently denied a request for the urgent listing of appeals against the Karnataka high court’s decision upholding the hijab ban in schools and colleges.
When the petitioner’s counsel stated that Muslim students would be unable to attend exams, the CJI stated, “exams have no connection with this issue.”