HIJAB CONTROVERSY

HIJAB CONTROVERSY

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March 17, 2022 - 7:34 am

The Karnataka High Court Upheld Ban On Wearing A Hijab In Educational Institutions


    The Karnataka High Court pronounced its judgment in the hijab and upheld the restriction on Muslim women wearing a hijab in educational institutions, ruling that the right to wear hijab is not constitutionally protected. The landmark judgment that came months after the Hijab Controversy escalated, was pronounced by a full Bench of the Karnataka High Court -- comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice Krishna S Dixit and Justice JM Khazi. After considering all arguments presented by parties involved, the Court said that it formulated few questions and reasoned its judgement accordingly.

      In distilling four points—essential religious practices test, legality of prescribing a school uniform, correctness of the Karnataka government’s February 5 order and whether the teachers in the Udupi college where the controversy first began must be prosecuted— the court chose to take up the convenient questions, side stepping the more fundamental dilemmas.

    Over the past many decades, the Supreme Court has devised a practical test of sorts to determine specifically which religious practices should enjoy constitutional protection. This has come to be referred to as the “essential religious practices” test, or the “essentiality” doctrine.

     At a time when the hijab-removal rule has become a flashpoint of religious tension in the state and has spread in other parts of the country, the judgment endorsed the spirit of “uniformity” that school and college dress codes/uniforms promote. 

     The Karnataka High Court observed that the state government has the power to pass orders and the one dated February 5, 2022 is not unconstitutional. The Court said that if a Government Order (GO) is sustainable in law (which in this case, it is), parties cannot challenge it. The court agreed that ‘’the impugned order could have well been drafted.’’

     The agency of women choosing to wear the hijab does not get due consideration the court again treats the issue much too sweepingly, asserting that the insistence on wearing a hijab may hinder the process of emancipation of women in general and Muslim women in particular. This case required a fine-grained discussion on autonomy, accommodation, and the limits of law in a multi-religious country. 

     The Karnataka High Court verdict on the hijab row has been challenged and taken to the Supreme Court. A special leave petition has been filed in the Apex Court against the ruling that hijab is 'not an essential part of Islam' and 'prescription of uniform serves Constitutional Secularism.’

Questions and Answers Questions and Answers

Question : What did the Karnataka High Court rule?
Answers : HIJAB CONTROVERSY
Question : Who pronounced the Hijab Controversy?
Answers : A full Bench of the Karnataka High Court
Question : How many points did the Karnataka High Court distill essential religious practices test?
Answers : Four
Question : What has the Supreme Court devised to determine which religious practices should enjoy constitutional protection?
Answers : Practical test of sorts
Question : What is the essentiality doctrine?
Answers : Essential religious practices test
Question : What spirit did the Karnataka High Court support?
Answers : Uniformity
Question : What did the Karnataka High Court observe?
Answers : The state government has the power to pass orders
Question : Who ruled that the right to wear hijab is not constitutionally protected?
Answers : The Karnataka High Court
Question : What did the court agree could have well been drafted?
Answers : Impugned order
Question : What does the court treat the issue too sweepingly?
Answers : The agency of women choosing to wear the hijab does not get due consideration
Question : What did the case require a finegrained discussion on?
Answers : Autonomy, accommodation, and the limits of law in a multireligious country
Question : What has been filed in the Apex Court against the ruling that hijab is not an essential part of Islam?
Answers : A special leave petition
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