Karnataka hijab ban: Will set up a Bench, says CJI Chandrachud
New Delhi, March 3
The Supreme Court on Friday said it will set up a three-judge Bench to hear Karnataka Muslim girl students’ petition seeking to be allowed to sit in examinations in the state government schools while wearing hijab.
“I will create a Bench,” said a Bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud after an advocate sought urgent hearing of the petition on the ground that the girls were on the verge of losing another academic year as the examinations were to commence from March 9 in government schools which didn’t permit wearing of headscarf.
“They have missed one year. They will miss another year,” the petitioner’s counsel said, adding the matter had been mentioned twice earlier.
However, without specifying any date, the CJI simply said he will constitute a Bench.
On February 22, the CJI had said he would “take a call” on listing a petition filed by some Muslim girl students from Karnataka seeking permission to appear wearing hijab in examinations commencing from March 9 in the state government-run schools.
A few girls had moved to private institutes because of the prohibition on wearing hijab but they had to take their examinations in government institutes and they were at risk of losing another year if not permitted, he had submitted.
On January 23, too, the CJI had said he would consider setting up a three-judge Bench to hear the Karnataka hijab case following its split verdict by a two-judge Bench.
On October 13, 2022, the top court had delivered a split verdict on the issue, requiring it to be referred to a three-judge Bench for adjudication.
While Justice Hemant Gupta (since retired) dismissed the appeals challenging the March 15, 2022, judgment of the Karnataka High Court which had refused to lift the ban, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia held there will be no restriction on wearing hijab anywhere in the schools and colleges of the state.
Permitting a community to wear its religious symbols to schools will be an “antithesis to secularism”, Justice Gupta had said, while Justice Dhulia insisted that putting on the Muslim headscarf should simply be a “matter of choice”.
