'Wearing hijab MATTER of CHOICE': SC judge Sudhanshu Dhulia who set aside Karnataka HC order

New Delhi: Supreme Court Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, who on Thursday set aside the Karnataka High Court order upholding the hijab ban in state educational institutions, said that “wearing a hijab is a matter of choice.” Justice Dhulia made this observation as the Supreme Court delivered a split verdict on a clutch of petitions challenging the Karnataka government`s February 5 order, prohibiting the wearing of hijab inside classrooms in pre-university colleges. 

The judgment was delivered by a bench comprising Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia. While Justice Gupta dismissed the appeals challenging the Karnataka High Court judgment, Justice Dhulia set aside the high court judgment.

The petitioners had moved the apex court challenging the Karnataka High Court verdict refusing to lift the ban on hijab in educational institutions of the state. Justice Dhulia said he has a different view and he is allowing the appeal against the high court judgment. "It (wearing hijab) is ultimately a matter of choice, nothing more, nothing else," he said.

Justice Dhulia said venturing into essential religious practice was not needed and the high court took the wrong way. He added that one thing which was topmost for him was the education of girl children. Justice Dhulia added that a girl child in areas does household work and chores before going to school and are we making her life any better by imposing an additional restriction on her?

Justice Dhulia said he has set aside the Karnataka High Court order and quashed the Karnataka government order of February 5, 2022, and given directions for the removal of the restrictions. Justice Hemant Gupta said in view of divergent opinions, let the matter be placed before the Chief Justice of India for appropriate directions. Detailed judgment on the matter will be uploaded later in the day.

The judgment would mean the restrictions on hijab in classrooms as per the state government`s February 5 order would continue for now. After 10 days of marathon hearings, on September 22 the top court reserved the judgment for Thursday. The bench heard the arguments from the counsels representing the state government, teachers, and the petitioners, who moved the apex court challenging the Karnataka High Court verdict refusing to lift the ban on hijab in educational institutions of the state.

A bench of Karnataka High Court comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice Krishna S Dixit, and Justice JM Khazi had earlier held that the prescription of uniform is a reasonable restriction that students could not object to and dismissed various petitions challenging a ban on Hijab in education institutions saying they are without merit.

The Hijab row erupted in January this year when the Government PU College in Udupi allegedly barred six girls wearing the hijab from entering. Following this, the girls sat in protest outside the college over being denied entry. 

After this, boys from several colleges in Udupi started attending classes wearing saffron scarves. This protest spread to other parts of the state as well leading to protests and agitations in several places in Karnataka. As a result, the Karnataka government said that all students must adhere to the uniform and banned both hijab and saffron scarves till an expert committee decided on the issue.

On February 5, the pre-University education board released a circular stating that the students could only wear the uniform approved by the school administration and no other religious attire would be allowed in colleges.