Owaisi slams Allahabad HC hijab ruling, accuses BJP-RSS of backing Manusmriti

Hyderabad: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday denounced the Allahabad High Court’s ruling on a schoolgirl’s hijab plea, calling it an assault on Islam and alleging that it infringed upon constitutional religious freedoms.

The High Court had dismissed a petition by a minor student from a Prayagraj school seeking permission to wear a hijab along with the prescribed uniform.

Speaking at a Jalsa-e-Rahmatul-lil-Alameen programme at AIMIM headquarters Darussalam, Owaisi questioned the court’s interpretation of religious practice and said the matter of essential religious practices was already before the Supreme Court in the Sabarimala case.

“I disagree with this High Court judgment; I do not concur with it,” he said. “Today’s verdict violates Articles 25 and 19 of the Indian Constitution. Who are you to decide what is essential to Islam? Girls are wearing hijab on their heads, not on their minds. It is an attack on Islam.”

The Allahabad High Court, while rejecting the plea, had noted that the petitioner failed to present religious texts or other evidence to establish that wearing a scarf was indispensable to the practice of her faith. It had also referred to photographs showing other students from the same community attending the school without headscarves.

Owaisi also trained his guns on the RSS and the BJP, claiming that the Sangh Parivar had historically favoured Manusmriti over the Constitution framed under the leadership of B.R. Ambedkar.

He referred to the adoption of the Constitution on November 26, 1949, and alleged that an RSS-linked publication had criticised it four days later, arguing that Manusmriti should have been preferred.

“They had issues with the Constitution drafted by Babasaheb Ambedkar,” the AIMIM leader said.

Targeting Hindutva ideologue V.D. Savarkar, Owaisi contrasted his conduct during imprisonment in the Andaman Cellular Jail with that of Muslim freedom fighters. He alleged that Savarkar sought concessions from the British, while leaders such as Allama Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi endured imprisonment without seeking relief.

He also cited Maulvi Alauddin of Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid, claiming he was among the earliest prisoners sent to the Andaman Islands by the British.

On the Uniform Civil Code, Owaisi questioned the nature of laws introduced or proposed in Uttarakhand, Assam and Gujarat. He argued that rules substantially based on Hindu personal laws could not be described as a genuinely uniform code for people of all faiths.

“Uniform Civil Code has been implemented in Uttarakhand, Assam and Gujarat. But if the laws being enforced are essentially based on provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act, Hindu Divorce Act and Hindu Succession Act, then how can they genuinely be called a Uniform Civil Code? Why should these laws be imposed on Muslims when they are rooted in Hindu personal laws?” he asked, objecting to their application to Muslims.

Owaisi said attempts to distance Muslims from their religious beliefs would not succeed and asserted that followers of Islam would continue to adhere to the Quran and Sunnah.

He also stressed that Indian Muslims remained committed to the country’s security and progress, while recalling the contributions of Muslim freedom fighters, including Turrebaz Khan, to the independence movement.

(Inputs from IANS)