Now all religious symbols will be allowed in schools except hijab, says Owaisi after K’taka HC verdict

A day after the Karnataka High Court dismissed petitions challenging the ban on hijab at some educational institutes in the state, MP Asaddudin Owaisi said all religious symbols except hijab would now be allowed at these schools.

A day after the Karnataka High Court dismissed petitions challenging the ban on hijab in some educational institutes in the state, AIMIM chief and Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi said that all religious symbols would now be permitted in these institutes except the hijab.

In an exclusive interview with Aaj Tak, Owaisi said, “I disagree with the court judgment, like I disagreed with the Supreme Court’s verdict on Ram mandir. It is my right to disagree with the court. Now, all religious symbols will be allowed in schools except the hijab. Earlier, a BJP minister in Karnataka had said institutes shouldn’t stop girls if they wear sindoor.”

Speaking on the judgment, Owaisi said the court had referred to ‘qualified spaces’ where some restrictions on freedoms can be imposed in order to ensure discipline. These include jails, army camps and schools, as per the judgment, Owaisi said.

“How can the court compare schools to jails,” he asked.

Further, he said, “Aren’t Diwali pujas held at police stations? Isn’t the police station a qualified space? So many judges wear tilak and come to court. Is that not a problem?”

In its judgment, the high court said hijab was not an essential religious practice and, hence, upheld the ban in some educational institutes.

Reacting to this, Owaisi said the court had framed the wrong question. “Will the court decide what an essential practice is? Or religious scholars? The court said no maulana filed an affidavit declaring hijab is essential. Had we known, we could have got all the maulanas to give their opinion!”