The Karnataka High court hearing on Thursday asked students not to insist on wearing any cloth on campuses of educational institutions which can instigate people, till the Hijab matter is resolved. The court posted the matter for Monday. It also said the educational institutions can resume classes for the students.
The three-judge full bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice J M Khazi, and Justice Krishna S Dixit, which was formed on Wednesday, also said it wants the matter to be resolved at the earliest but till that time peace and tranquility is to be maintained. “We are ready to decide the issue at the earliest. But we feel that peace and tranquility should be restored. Till decision, you should not insist on wearing these religious clothes which are not conducive. It is a matter of a few days. Please cooperate,” the court said.
After the hijab row in Karnataka took a violent turn, calm prevailed today in the educational situations ordered to be closed down and a full bench of the High Court heard the pleas challenging the ban on the headscarf while protests in support of the religious practice broke out in some more states.
“Till the disposal of the matter, you people should not insist on wearing all these religious things,” CJ Awasthi said. “We will pass an order. Let the schools-colleges start. But till the matter is resolved, no student should insist on wearing religious dress”, he said.
However, the petitioners’ lawyer Devadatt Kamat requested the court to consider his objection that such an order will amount to suspension of his client’s constitutional rights under article 25. “That will be a total affront to their rights,” Kamat contended.
The Hijab row started in December end when a few students started coming to the government pre-university college in Udupi wearing Hijab. To protest against it, some Hindu students turned up wearing saffron scarves. The row spread to other educational institutions in different parts of Karnataka, and the protests took a violent turn at some place earlier this week, prompting the government on Tuesday to declare three days holiday for the institutions.
Meanwhile, Madras High Court expressed its deep concern over the growing tendency of certain forces arousing religious disharmony in the country. It asked: What is paramount—nation or religion.
In an observation that came in the backdrop of a raging debate over the hijab row in Karnataka, the first bench of Acting Chief Justice MN Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthi lamented that of late, certain forces have raised controversies relating to dress code and it is spreading all over India.
“It is really shocking, somebody is going for the ‘hijab’, some others for the ‘topi’ (cap) and a few others for other things. Is it one country or is it divided by religion or something like that. This is quite surprising,” the bench added.
Pointing out the fact that India is a secular country, the ACJ said: “What is found from the current affairs is nothing but an effort to divide the country in the name of religion.” The ACJ made the observations while hearing a batch of PIL petitions filed by Rangarajan Narasimhan of Srirangam in Tiruchirapalli district.
