Hijab Issues in Karnataka: High Court reserved its judgment

Hijab Issues: The Karnataka High Court reserved its judgment in the hijab case after 11 days of back-to-back hearing on Friday. The hearing for the hijab issues resumed at 2:30 pm in the Karnataka High Court. The Karnataka High Court on Thursday asked the counsels in the Hijab case to wind up their arguments by Friday as it indicated that it will shortly deliver the order.

The Chief Justice of the High Court Ritu Raj Awasthi, who is part of the three-judge bench, told the counsels that that the arguments should be finished by Friday. He also asked the parties to give their written submissions within two to three days. During week-long hearings, the state government said that it has left it to institutions to decide on the uniform and that the right to wear the headscarf falls under the category of 19(1)(A) and not Article 25 as has been argued by the petitioners.

“The right to wear Hijab falls under Article 19(1)(A) and not Article 25. If one wishes to wear Hijab, then there is no restriction ‘subject to the institutional discipline’. The rights claimed under Article 19(1)(A) is related to Article 19(2) where the government places a reasonable restriction subjected to institutional restriction,” Karnataka Advocate General Prabhuling Navadgi told the bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice J M Khazi and Justice Krishna M Dixit.

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The hijab controversy in the southern state began in January this year when some students of Government Girls PU college in the Udupi district of the state alleged that they had been barred from attending classes.