New Delhi: The issue of the hijab ban by educational institutions has once again come to the Supreme Court of India.
This time, it is by way of a challenge to a June 2024 Bombay High Court judgment that upheld a ban imposed by a Mumbai college on wearing of hijab, nakab, burkha etc by female students.
Bombay High Court upheld a ban imposed by a Mumbai college on wearing of hijab, nakab etc by female students
The Bombay High Court in its judgment held that “you shall follow the dress code of college of formal dress which shall not reveal anyone’s religion such as No Burkha, No Nakab, no Hijab, No Cap, No badge, No stole etc. Only full or half shirt and formal trouser for boys and any Indian/ Western non revealing dress for girls on the college campus.”
Bombay High Court order came on a plea by nine students challenging the ban
The Bombay High Court judgment came on a petition filed by nine students pursuing their second and third year education for undergraduate courses at the College run by Chembur Trombay Education Society and they challenged instructions issued to students requiring them to follow a prescribed dress code. The students in the petition also claimed that imposition of the dress code affects their right to education.
Petitioners before Bombay High Court have moved Supreme Court
In Supreme Court, the same set of students have challenged the High court judgment saying that the College direction was without any authority of law, in so far that there is now law or rule which allows the college to frame such guidelines. The Supreme court on Tuesday had agreed to list the case for an early hearing.
The petitions also asserts that the direction on dress by college violated Article 14 of the Constitution as the act of prohibiting disclosure of religion, wearing a certain attire has no nexus with the object of promoting the ‘formal and decent’ dressing and maintaining discipline among students.
The petition has also argues that many of the students to the college come from conservative families/societies where education for the female gender is actively discouraged. Such cultures allow the female gender to study if they adhere to dressing conservatively, ie in a burkha, Nakab, hijab stc and following other tenets of their faith.” And if the students are not granted the liberty to wear hijab, naka and burkha, most of them will be forced to drop out of formal education and decades of progress achieved towards promotion of education for female gender will be lost.
