- Adjourning the next hearing on 14 February, a three judge Bench comprising of Hon’ble Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justices Krishna S Dixit and JM Khazi, remarked that while an interim order will be passed for the resumption of educational institutes. In the meanwhile, all stakeholders and students must exercise restraint on wearing any religious garments or head dress.
- Arguing on behalf of one of the petitioners, Sr. Advocate Sanjay Hegde contended that the Petitioner would argue on both the constitutional as well as statutory questions pertaining to the matter. He submitted that the Karnataka Education Act and Rules do not include any specific provision for uniforms.
- Advocate General (AG), Prabhuling Navadgi, appearing for the State stated that the students must, for the time being, attend college adhering to the guidelines prescribed by the college.
- The Counsel for Petitioner contented that the hijab is a part of the religious culture of Muslims and an innocuous practice and hence, students must be permitted to wear head scarves of the same colour as that of uniform and attend college.
- The Counsel further submitted that the a) right to wear the hijab falls within the freedom of expression, privacy and conscience envisaged under Articles 19 and 25 of the Constitution; b)decisions regarding Constitutional matters must be decided by the Courts and not left to politicians; c) Government institutions belong to every citizen of India and people cannot be told to forsake their faith and attend such institutions.
- He argued that the impugned Government Order (GO) has made a declaration that the head scarf is not a part of religion and this makes it important for the GO to be challenged and the present Writ is not just a case of a religious practice but also a case of educational rights.
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