Allow us to wear hijab on Fridays and during Ramzan, Muslim girls urge Karnataka High Court

BENGALURU: A group of Muslim students on Thursday pleaded before the Karnataka High Court to allow them to wear ‘hijab’ on Fridays and during the holy month of Ramzan. They claimed that banning Hijab amounted to banning the holy Quran.

The High Court, in its interim order pending consideration of all petitions related to the hijab row, last week restrained all the students from wearing saffron shawls, scarves, hijab and any religious flag within the classroom.

"Poor Muslim girls are suffering because of restriction on wearing Hijab. I request the court to pass an order allowing girls to wear Hijab on Friday, which is Jumma day for the Muslim, and during the holy month of Ramzan," counsel Vinod Kulkarni, appearing on behalf of the Muslim girls, said before the full bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice J M Khazi and Justice Krishna S Dixit.

Kulkarni contended there was a "mass hysteria" in the country due to the Hijab issue. He said Hijab was "not against health or morality". According to him, banning Hijab amounted to banning the holy Quran.

On January 1, six girl students at a college in Udupi attended a press conference held by the Campus Front of India (CFI) in the coastal city protesting against the college authorities denying them entry into the classroom by wearing Hijab.

This was four days after they requested the principal’s permission to wear Hijabs in classes, which was not allowed. Till then, students used to wear Hijab to the campus and entered the classroom after removing the scarves, the college principal Rudre Gowda had said.

"The institution did not have any rule on Hijab-wearing as such and since no one used to wear it to the classroom in the last 35 years. The students who came with the demand had the backing of outside forces," Gowda had said. 

Meanwhile, the Karnataka high court on Thursday adjourned the hearing on pleas challenging the hijab ban in schools till Friday.

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