Can Colleges Order Students To Not Wear Hijab? High Court Hears Case

A three-judge bench headed by the Karnataka Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi will decide whether schools and colleges can order students not to wear the hijab in classrooms.

The High Court on Wednesday referred the case to a larger bench citing "the enormity of questions of importance which were debated".

"These matters give rise to certain constitutional questions of seminal importance in view of certain aspects of personal law," the judge hearing the case said yesterday.

A group of Muslim girls studying in government colleges in Udupi had filed a petition challenging a ban on wearing the hijab in classrooms.

The students alleged that they were stopped from entering class wearing headscarves though it was allowed earlier.

On Tuesday, the protests intensified as groups of students wearing the hijab and saffron scarves clashed outside a college, forcing the police to use tear gas and batons.

On Wednesday, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai appealed for calm and announced all colleges and schools in the state would be closed for three days.

The protests started last month at the Government Girls PU college in Udupi when six students alleged they had been barred from classes for insisting on keeping on the hijab.

The protests spread to more colleges in Udupi and other cities like Mandya and Shivamogga, with college staff banning the hijab - though rules allow it - and many students taking a confrontational position by showing up in saffron scarves and shouting slogans.

Yesterday, the government ordered a three-day ban on protests near schools and colleges.