Decoding the Karnataka high court ruling on hijab
Hindustan TimesLaying down the first judicial declaration by a constitutional court on the essentiality of hijab in Islam, the Karnataka high court on Tuesday declared that the right to wear a hijab is not constitutionally protected as an essential religious practice. Protection of essential religious practice Since the question of hijab being a part of essential religious practice was the bone of contention, the high court said, it was necessary to decide if wearing of hijab was made mandatory under Islam. Referring to the Sabrimala judgment, the high court noted that an essential religious practice must form the cornerstone of religion itself and has to be binding nature of the religion itself. According to the high court, the Supreme Court judgments in the Sabrimala case and the Triple Talaq case paved the way for a “paradigm shift in the approach to the concept of essential religious practice”, by laying down that an essential religious practice should also be in sync with constitutional values.