Desk Report
Publish: 15 Mar 2022, 10:00 pm
A Southern Karnataka court upheld a local ban on the hijab in classrooms || Photo: Collected
An Indian court upheld a local ban on the hijab in
classrooms on Tuesday, weeks after the edict stoked violent protests and
renewed fears of discrimination against the country’s Muslim minority.
Southern Karnataka state was on edge for several weeks after
a small group of girls in their late teens were prevented from wearing the
garment on school grounds at the end of last year.
Demonstrations snowballed across the state and police used
tear gas to disperse angry crowds as more schools imposed their own bans and
radical Hindu groups staged boisterous counter-demonstrations.
After weeks of deliberations, Karnataka’s high court ruled
that the wearing of the hijab ‘does not form a part of essential religious
practice in Islamic faith’.
Its judgment said schools had reasonable grounds to impose
dress codes that forbade the headdress in the interests of preventing divisions
on religion and other grounds.
‘The aim of the regulation is to create a ‘safe space’ and
the ideals of egalitarianism should be readily apparent to all students.’
Hundreds of extra police officers were deployed around
Karnataka on Monday ahead of the ruling, though there was no sign of fresh
protests by mid-afternoon.
As tensions came to a head in February, several violent
confrontations in cities across the state were broken up by police and schools
were shut.
The hijab is an important article of faith in Islam and many
in Karnataka say that Muslim girls have worn it in schools for decades, just as
Hindus, Sikhs and Christians have done with symbols of their respective
religions.
Critics accuse authorities in Karnataka, which is ruled by
prime minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, of
seeking to drive a wedge between religious communities that have coexisted
peacefully for generations.
Rights groups say Modi’s election in 2014 has emboldened
hard-line groups who see India as a Hindu nation and are seeking to undermine
its secular foundations at the expense of its 200 million-strong Muslim
community.
Asaduddin Owaisi, one of the country’s most prominent Muslim
politicians, said Tuesday’s verdict had ‘suspended fundamental rights to
freedom of religion’ and urged a Supreme Court appeal.
‘I hope this judgement will not be used to legitimise
harassment of hijab wearing women,’ he wrote on Twitter.
The state high court initially ordered a temporary ban on
the wearing of all religious symbols — including Hindu and Christian ones — in
schools.
Schools later reopened under heavy security with a ban on
gatherings of more than four people.
In several instances, authorities made teachers and pupils
take off their hijab publicly at the school gate.
A number of Muslim pupils told local media they would rather
go home than be made to choose between their faith and education.
Aaliyah Siddiqui, one of the teenagers who petitioned the
Karnataka court to appeal the ban, said the fight against the restrictions
would continue.
‘All I want to say is I will not give up,’ she said in a
video message, adding, ‘I will fight for my hijab because hijab is my identity
and my pride.’
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