Hijab not an essential religious practice of Islam: Karnataka govt tells HC

Bengaluru, Feb 18: The Karnataka government on Friday told the High Court that the hijab is not an essential religious practice of Islam. Thus barring students from wearing hijabs did not violate Article 25 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees religious freedom, the government said.

"We have taken a stand that wearing hijab is not an essential religious part of Islam," news agency PTI quoted Advocate General of Karnataka Prabhuling Navadgi told the full bench of the High Court comprising Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice J M Khazi and Justice Krishna M Dixit.

Article 25 gives freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion to the citizens of India. The government order also does not violate Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, Navadgi argued. Article 19(1)(a) guarantees to all its citizens the right to freedom of speech and expression.

The Advocate General also defended the government's February 5 order, saying that it was in accordance with the law and there was nothing to object in it.

The High Court, in its interim order pending consideration of all petitions related to the hijab row, last week restrained all the students from wearing saffron shawls, scarves, hijab and any religious flag within the classroom.

Also, : The Karnataka High Court bench hearing the case of Hijab row rejected plea to restrain live streaming of proceedings.

After the proceedings started on Friday, senior advocate Prof Ravi Varma Kumar, representing Muslim girls questioning the ban on wearing hijab in classrooms, claimed that live streaming was causing a lot of unrest in the society as the observations were taken out of context.

The advocate claimed that live streaming had become "counterproductive and children were put to hardship". However, Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi said: "Let the people understand what is the stand of the respondents also."

The Hijab protests began on February 4 at the Government Girls PU college in Udupi district in Karnataka when some students alleged that they had been barred from attending classes. During the protests, some students were allegedly denied entry to college wearing hijab by Muslim women earlier this month.