Supreme Court delivers split verdict on Karnataka hijab ban
The HinduThe Supreme Court on October 13 delivered a split verdict on whether Muslim students should shed their hijabs at their school gates. Justice Hemant Gupta upheld Karnataka’s prohibitive government order of February 5, saying “apparent symbols of religious belief cannot be worn to secular schools maintained from State funds”. “Asking the girls to take off their hijab before they enter the school gates, is first, an invasion of their privacy, then it is an attack on their dignity, and then ultimately it is a denial to them of secular education… There shall be no restriction on the wearing of hijab anywhere in schools and colleges in Karnataka,” Justice Dhulia held. Justice Gupta, in his opinion, said students need to follow the discipline of wearing the school uniform without any “addition, subtraction or modification”. “This is for a girl child, for whom it was never easy, in the first place, to reach her school gate,” Justice Dhulia underscored.