New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that it will list the appeals related to wearing of hijab in educational institutes after two days. A Bench of the Apex Court, headed by Chief Justice (CJI) Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana, agreed to list the appeals after two days. “I will list. Wait for two days”, the CJI told Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora, lawyer for the petitioner, when she mentioned the petitions filed against the Karnataka High Court’s judgement for urgent listing. The Special Leave Petition (SLP) has been filed against the March 15 verdict passed by the High Court of Karnataka, upholding the Government order of February 5, 2022, which has effectively prohibited the petitioners and other female Muslim students from wearing the headscarf (hijab) in their Pre-University Colleges. A Full Bench of the High Court, comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice Krishna Dixit and Justice JM Khazi, held that wearing of hijab by women was not an essential religious practice of Islam. The petitioners sought urgent listing of the petition, stating that though it was registered on March 30, 2022, despite passage of one month, it has not been listed for hearing, in the normal course. The High Court of Karnataka had, on March 15, dismissed the petition filed by a group of Muslim girl students against PU government college for denying them entry while wearing hijab. The High Court Bench had stated that the practice of hijab was not an essential practice under Islam and thus, does not fall within the ambit of Article 25 of the Constitution of India. The court had also held that prescription of school uniform was only a reasonable restriction, which was constitutionally permissible and which the students cannot object to. The Karnataka government has the power to issue such notification and no case has been made out against the government notification, the High Court had noted.
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