The Janta Dal (Secular) slammed the Karnataka BJP government hours after the state alleged to the Supreme Court that the student petitioners who opposed the hijab ban in state-run institutions were influenced by the Popular Front of India (PFI).
“Indira Gandhi kept a “pallu,” as does the President of India. Is PFI behind this as well? JD(S) president, C. M. Ibrahim asked. “In Rajasthan, women wear pallu over their hands. Do we declare them Muslims? ‘Pallu is the culture of Indian tradition,” he added.
The Karnataka government Tuesday told the court that PFI was behind the Hijab protests. No hijab was being worn in schools till 2021, it claimed.
On March 15, a three-judge bench of the Karnataka High Court dismissed a batch of pleas by Muslim students against the ban on wearing the hijab inside classrooms. The High Court had held that the hijab is not an essential practice of Islam and that educational institutions have a right to prescribe dress codes and the students must adhere to the same.
A Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia is hearing a batch of petitions challenging the ban on wearing hijabs in educational institutions in Karnataka.
A total of 23 petitions total are placed before the bench. According to Live Law, some of them are writ petitions sent directly to the Supreme Court asking for Muslim girl students’ right to wear the hijab, while others are special leave applications contesting the Karnataka High Court’s March 15 ruling upholding the hijab ban.
Also Read: Hijab Ban In Karnataka Deprived Muslim Students Their Right To Education: PUCL Report
