The Supreme Court on Thursday pronounced a split verdict in the Karnataka Hijab ban case.
The verdict was delivered by a bench of justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia. While Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia approved the applications, Justice Hemant Gupta dismissed them.
One of the attorneys for the petitioner stated that the Chief Justice of India will hear the case and determine whether to convene a fresh bench to hear it or refer it to a larger court.
The Karnataka High Court’s decision upholding the state government’s order to forbid the wearing of hijabs at the state’s educational institutions was challenged in appeals, but Justice Hemant Gupta dismissed them.
Justice Gupta said, “There is a divergence of opinion. In my order, I have framed 11 questions. First is whether the appeal should be referred to the Constitution Bench.”
Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia allowed the appeals and set aside the Karnataka High Court order.
“It’s a matter of choice, nothing more nothing less,” Justice Dhulia said while pronouncing the order.
The supreme court had previously reserved its decision over a number of petitions opposing the Karnataka High Court’s decision to uphold the ban on the hijab in educational institutions.
The Karnataka High Court ruling upholding the Karnataka government’s order directing rigorous enforcement of schools’ and institutions’ uniform regulations has been challenged by a number of petitioners in front of the Supreme Court.
One of the appeals in the top court has alleged “step-motherly behaviour of government authorities which has prevented students from practising their faith and resulted in an unwanted law and order situation”.
The appeal said the High Court in its impugned order “had vehemently failed to apply its mind and was unable to understand the gravity of the situation as well as the core aspect of the Essential Religious Practices enshrined under Article 25 of the Constitution of India”.
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