Hijab row in HC: Turkey & South Africa to Heckler's Veto, top points from today's hearing
India Today
Advocate Devadatt Kamat, appearing for Muslim students of Kundapura college, drew comparisons between the hijab case and judgments made by courts in Turkey, South Africa and the US with respect to religion and religious symbols.
Karnataka High Court continued hearing the hijab case today with petitioners citing several foreign court judgments in matters of religion and religious symbols. Advocate Devadatt Kamat appearing for Muslim students of Kundapura college drew comparisons from judgments made by courts in Turkey, South Africa and the US. Here are the top points.
In another development in the hijab row, the Karnataka government on Tuesday issued prohibitory orders for areas around schools in nine districts including Bengaluru and Tumkur.
Petitioners cited a South African court judgment claiming that if there is a uniform and somebody is asking for an exemption, it is the duty of the state and school to accommodate those requests and not punish. Advocate Kamat cited the 2004 Sunali Pillay vs Durban Girls High School case in South Africa.
In 2004, a Hindu girl from South India was barred from wearing a nose ring in school. The school said that girls should not be allowed to wear 'nose adornment' as it would interfere with codes of conduct at the school. However, she claimed that she had been wearing it for over two years and it was her constitutional right.
"Evidence shows that nose-stud is not a mandatory tenet of Sunali's religion or culture. But the evidence does confirm that nose-stud is a voluntary expression of South Indian Tamil Hindu culture," read the judgment in the case.
The petitioner argued that the case was not about uniforms but about exemptions to existing uniforms, similar to the hijab, which is not even an exemption but an addition.
"The possibility for abuse should not affect the rights of those who hold sincere beliefs," Advocate Kamat quoted from South African court judgment, asking the high court to permit students to wear the hijab in addition to the uniform, as they have been doing for the past two years.
