NEW DELHI: An Indian court Tuesday upheld a ban on wearing hijab in class in the southern state of Karnataka, declaring the headscarf is not an essential religious practice of Islam.
The high court in Karnataka state delivered the verdict after considering petitions filed by Muslim students challenging a government ban on hijabs that some schools and colleges have implemented in the last two months.
“We are of the considered opinion that wearing of hijab by Muslim women does not form a part of essential religious practice,” Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi of the High Court of Karnataka said in the judgement.
He said the government had the power to prescribe uniform guidelines, dismissing various petitions challenging the order.
The ban does not extend to other Indian states, but the court ruling could set a precedent for the rest of the country.
The dispute began in January when a government-run school in Karnataka’s Udupi district barred students wearing hijabs from entering classrooms, triggering protests by Muslims who said they were being deprived of their fundamental rights to education and religion.
The ban had led to protests in some other parts of the country too and drew criticism from the United States and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
That led to counterprotests by Hindu students wearing saffron shawls, a colour closely associated with that religion and favoured by Hindu nationalists.
More schools in the state followed with similar bans and the state’s top court disallowed students from wearing hijab and any religious clothing pending a verdict.
Ahead of the verdict, the Karnataka government banned large gatherings for a week in state capital Bengaluru “to maintain public peace and order” and declared a holiday Tuesday in schools and colleges in Udupi.
The hijab is worn by many Muslim women to maintain modesty or as a religious symbol, often seen as not just a bit of clothing but something mandated by their faith.
Hijab restrictions have surfaced elsewhere, including France, which in 2004 banned them in schools.
But in India, where Muslims make up 14 percent of the country’s 1.4 billion people, the hijab has historically been neither prohibited nor limited in public spheres. Women donning the headscarf is common across the country, which has religious freedom enshrined in its national charter with the secular state as a cornerstone.
Some rights activists have voiced concerns that the ban could increase Islamophobia. Violence and hate speech against Muslims have increased under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governing Hindu nationalist party, which also governs the Karnataka state.
