SC refuses urgent hearing to pleas challenging Karnataka HC's hijab verdict
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court today refused an early hearing of the hijab pleas challenging the Karnataka high court's verdict.
The petitioners had sought early listing of the issue citing upcoming school examinations.
However, the bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice Krishna Murari denied the request of senior advocate Devadatt Kamat who mentioned urgent listing of the matter saying students are being denied the option to wear hijabs while appearing for exams.
He said that exams are starting on March 28 and the student would lose a year as authorities are not allowing entry with a hijab.
"This has nothing to do with exams. Don't sensationalise the issue," the CJI said while also refusing to entertain an intervention from the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta as well.
On March 16, the Supreme Court had agreed to list after Holi the pleas challenging the Karnataka High Court order on hijab ban in educational institutions.
On March 15, the Karnataka High Court had dismissed the petitions filed by a section of Muslim students from the Government Pre-University Girls College in Udupi, seeking permission to wear a Hijab inside the classroom.
The five young women from Karnataka's Udupi -- whose petition seeking that hijab be allowed in classrooms got turned down by the High Court -- had told the media that they have been "denied fundamental rights" and feel "betrayed by the country". Insisting that the issue of hijab, which should have been "resolved at a local level, now has acquired political and communal overtones," they said they will, however, not drop out of college because of the setback.
The row had started in December last year as students at a school in Udupi refused to remove headscarves and stop their use despite requests from teachers. Five students then went to court.
As the protests spread, a section of students turned up in saffron scarves, arguing they were also linked to religious identity. Dalit students adopted blue to show support for the hijab.