Schools, colleges reopen in Udupi after Karnataka HC dismisses plea on Hijab row

Bengaluru, Mar 16: Schools and colleges reopened in Udupi a day after Karnataka High Court dismissed various petitions challenging a ban on Hijab in educational institutions and said that wearing Hijab is not an essential religious practice of Islam.

In an important verdict on Tuesday, the Karnataka HC dismissed various petitions challenging a ban on Hijab in education institutions. The full bench of the HC concluded its hearing in the Hijab case saying that wearing the Hijab is not a part of essential religious practices in Islam.

Prescription of school uniform is a reasonable restriction which student could not object to, Karnataka High Court said while pronouncing judgment in Hijab row case.

The full bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice Krishna S Dixit and Justice J M Khazi was constituted on February 9 on a petition filed by girls from Udupi who prayed that they should be allowed to wear Hijab even inside the classroom along with the school uniform as it was part of their faith.

On January 1, six girl students of a college in Udupi attended a press conference held by the Campus Front of India (CFI) in the coastal town protesting against the college authorities denying them entry into classrooms wearing headscarves.

This was four days after they requested the principal permission to wear hijab in classes which was not allowed. Till then, students used to wear the headscarf to the campus, but entered the classroom after removing it, college principal Rudre Gowda had said.