Hijab case: If right to dress is fundamental right then right to undress becomes fundamental right: SC

New Delhi, Sep 06: The Supreme Court on Wednesday told the petitioners that if the right to dress is claimed as a right, then right to undress also becomes a fundamental right.

The apex court was hearing arguments on a batch of pleas challenging the Karnataka High Court verdict refusing to lift the ban on hijab in educational institutions of the state.

"We cannot take this to illogical ends.. if you say right to dress is a fundamental right then right to undress also becomes a fundamental right," Bar & Bench quoted Justice Gupta as saying.

Lawyer Dev Datt Kamat told the court that nobody was "undressing in school". "No one is denying right to dress," Justice Gupta maintained.

The Justice also said that the problem is one community wants to wear headscarf while other communities are following the dress code. "Students of other communities are not saying we want to wear this and that," NDTV quoted the judge as saying during a longer exchange between the court and the advocate.

The hearing will continue tomorrow at 11.30 am tomorrow.

The apex court had last week issued notice to the Karnataka government on these pleas.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Karnataka, had said a question of law was involved in the matter and no counter may be required to be filed.

Several petitions have been filed in the apex court against the March 15 verdict of the Karnataka High Court holding that wearing of hijab is not a part of the essential religious practice which can be protected under Article 25 of the Constitution.

The 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 hijab inside the classroom. The prescription of school uniform is only a reasonable restriction, constitutionally permissible which the students cannot object to, the high court had said.

In one of the pleas filed in the top court, the petitioner said the high court has "erred in creating a dichotomy of freedom of religion and freedom of conscience wherein the court has inferred that those who follow a religion cannot have the right to conscience." "The high court has failed to note that the right to wear hijab comes under the ambit of the right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. It is submitted that the freedom of conscience forms a part of the right to privacy," it said.

Challenging the February 5 order of the government, the petitioners had argued before the high court that wearing the Islamic headscarf was an innocent practice of faith and an Essential Religious Practice (ERP) and not a display of religious jingoism.