The Supreme Court on Friday said that it would constitute a Bench to conduct hearings on the matter challenging the Karnataka government’s ban on Muslim girl students wearing hijab (headscarf) to colleges.
The Counsel representing the petitioners mentioned the matter before the Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice P.S. Narasimha for urgent hearing.
The lawyer sought interim relief for the students, permitting them to appear for the upcoming exams wearing hijab.
The CJI initially said the case would be listed after the Holi break. However, the Counsel said that the examinations were scheduled after five days.
The CJI told the lawyer that he was coming on the last day, to which the Counsel replied that the matter was mentioned twice and 10 days ago as well.
The CJI then agreed to constitute a Bench and hear the petition.
Earlier on February 22, the Apex Court had said that it would take a call on hearing the petition made by Muslim girls seeking interim relief to allow them to attend exams in government colleges wearing hijab (headscarves).
The matter was mentioned before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud by Advocate Shadan Farast, seeking urgent hearing in the matter on the grounds that the examinations were scheduled to commence from March 9.
The CJI asked the lawyer why the girls were not permitted to appear for the exams, to which the Advocate replied that since the girls were wearing hijab, they were prevented from taking up the exams.
The lawyer contended that the girls had already lost one year of their studies and they did not wish to lose another year. He said the girls were not seeking any other directions, except the permission to appear for the examination wearing hijab.
Earlier on January 23, the CJI had agreed to consider the request for urgent listing, after Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora mentioned the urgency of examinations, scheduled to be held in government colleges.
After the Karnataka government banned wearing of hijab in Government Pre-University Colleges, several Muslim students shifted to private colleges. However, the exams were conducted in government colleges. In this backdrop, the petitioners sought permission to attend exams wearing hijab.
The High Court of Karnataka had, in March, 2022, upheld the ban imposed by the State Government on Muslim girls wearing religious headscarf in government colleges.
The judgment was challenged in the Supreme Court, which delivered a split verdict in October 2022, with Justice Hemant Gupta upholding the hijab ban and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia ruling against it.