No curbs on hijab in campus, only in class, says Karnataka advocate-general

New Delhi: While saying the right to wear the hijab doesn’t fall under Article 25 but under Article 19(1)(A) of the Constitution, the Karnataka government told the high court Tuesday there was no restriction on wearing hijabs on campus, and the restriction was only inside classrooms. The state advocate-general argued that the right to wear the hijab under Article 19 can be restricted under Article 19(2), reiterating it was “not an essential religious practice” of Islam, because if it was all women would have to wear it. The A-G added that private unaided minority institutions had the right to decide their uniforms and dress codes.

As the hijab row hearing entered the eighth day Tuesday, the students sought interim relief. The high court, refusing to grant such relief, asked the advocates to wind up arguments within this week.

The prohibitory orders around Bengaluru’s educational institutions has, meanwhile, been extended till March 8.

Advocate-general Prabhuling Navadgi argued Tuesday: “There is no discrimination based on religion. As far as private unaided minority institutions are concerned, we are not interfering with the uniform code and have left it to them to decide… A large number of petitioners who represent women’s organisations… I want to tell them that the dignity of women must be kept in mind.”

The A-G told the three-member bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, and Justices Krishna S. Dixit and J.M. Khazi, that the petitioners haven’t shown that wearing the hijab was an essential Islamic religious practice, so the protection under Article 25 wasn’t available to them.