Karnataka Govt may make modification in Hijab ban order

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government is reported to be considering a modification of its order issued on February 5, banning Hijabs in the government pre-university colleges across the state.

The government insisted that the ban does not violate the right to freedom of religion. However, the matter now is being heard in the Karnataka High Court, an order in respect of the modification of the order will take its course of time over the outcome of the court verdict.

The High Court has been hearing the arguments against the ban for nearly a week, which implied prohibiting students with their hijab on from the classroom is amounted to a violation of the right to freedom of religion, the right to equality, expression, personal liberty and education.

Over the arguments, the state's Advocate General, Prabhuling Navadgi, told the court he would respond whether the arguments stand in accordance with the constitution after the state explanation over the matter. The Advocate General is reported to be submitting the government's explanation in the court today.

The full bench court, comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice Krishna S Dixit, and Justice J M Khazi, that heard a slew of petitions against the government hijab ban order, said the advocate general that he could begin his arguments on the objections that government had raised against the hijab in the classrooms.

Meanwhile, the reports suggested that the Karnataka state cabinet led by the Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, which is scheduled to convene today, is expected to make a statement on the ongoing hijab issue.

The court, in an interim order last week, urged the state to reopen all educational institutions, where students should shun wearing their religious symbols in the classrooms, where a dress code is prescribed by the College Development Committees, until a final order is pronounced.

However, the interim has been subjected to misinterpretation in which many colleges did not allow students with their hijab on in the classrooms, prompting many students to boycott their examinations, and led to widespread outrage and protests across the state.

Many Muslims girls have either been kept out from the classes or have opted to stay away, while the college authorities cited the Karnataka High Court to keep hijab from the campuses. The clarification from the CM Bommai that the court order only apply to pre-university colleges, most institutions urged students to remove their hijabs.

There is pressure on the BJP government from several quarters to roll back its own order of February 5, which legitimised a ban on hijabs in pre-university colleges on the grounds that the freedom of religion is subject to public order and that wearing of hijabs disrupted public order.