In a landmark judgment, the Karnataka High Court today ruled that wearing of hijab by Muslim women is does not form essential religious practice in the Islamic faith and prescribing uniform is not a violation of fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) and 25 of the Constitution.
A full bench of the Karnataka High Court, today, dismissed a batch of petitions filed by Muslims girls from pre university (PU) colleges in the Udupi region of the state seeking the right to wear hijabs or head scarves along with uniforms inside classrooms.
Answering to the question of whether the prescription of school uniform is not legally permissible as being violated petitioners’ fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 19(1) (a) (freedom of expression and Article 21 (privacy), the court said that the prescribing uniform is a reasonable restriction which is constitutionally permitted which cannot be objected by the students.
“We are of the considered opinion that wearing of the hijab by Muslim women does not make up an essential religious practice in Islamic faith,” the full bench said in the gist of its order that was read out by the Karnataka chief justice Ritu Raj Awasthi this morning.
“We are of the considered opinion that the prescription of a school uniform is a reasonable restriction constitutionally permissible which the students cannot object to,” said the full bench also comprising Justice Krishna S Dixit and Justice J M Khazi. The High Court in its order also upheld a February 5 state government order which suggested that the wearing of hijabs can be restricted in colleges where uniforms are prescribed.
“We are of the considered opinion that the government has the power to issue the impugned government order dated February 5, 2022 and no case is made out for its invalidation,” the full bench added.
The court also said it had taken a holistic view of the dispute and formulated four questions that needed to be answered. “Taking a holistic view of the entire matter we have postulated a few questions and we have answered them accordingly. The questions that have been formulated are — Whether wearing the hijab or the headscarf is part of essential religious practice in Islamic faith under article 25 of the Constitution?” the court said.
It added, “The second question is whether the prescription of school uniform is not legally permissible as being violative of the petitioners fundamental rights guaranteed under article 19 1 a of the constitution that is freedom of expression and article 21 that is privacy”.
“The third question is whether the government order dated February 5, 2022 apart from being incompetent is issued without application of mind and further whether it is arbitrary and therefore violates article 14 and 15 of the Constitution. The last question is whether any case is made out in a petition for ordering an inquiry against respondents 6 to 14 and for issuance of a writ of quo warranto against the respondents 15 and 16,” the High Court said.
While stating that “wearing of the hijab by Muslim women does not make up an essential religious practice in Islamic faith”, that “prescription of a school uniform is a reasonable restriction constitutionally permissible which the students cannot object to”, that “the government has the power to issue the impugned government order dated February 5, 2022 and no case is made out for its invalidation”, the court also rejected the plea for action against college authorities for restricting students from entering their colleges wearing hijabs.
“The answer to the fourth question is no case is made out in writ petition 2146/2022 for issuance of a direction for initiating disciplinary action against respondents six to 14 and for issuance of writ or quo warranto against respondents 15 and 16. They are rejected as being not maintainable,” the bench said. Accordingly in the above circumstances all these writ petitions being devoid of merit are dismissed, the court concluded.
