Karnataka hijab row: HC's 3 questions before its verdict, read details

During the hearing, the petitioners argued that wearing a Hijab is an essential religious practice under Islam.  

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday stated that wearing a hijab is not essential practice in Islam. The bench head by Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi stated that they believe that wearing of hijab by Muslim women does not form a part of essential religious practice in the Islamic faith. The Karnataka HC bench that heard petitions challenging the hijab ban over weeks now stated that it had asked itself three questions:

Here are the three questions:
1) Is wearing the hijab is an essential practice under Islam? 
2) Whether the prescription of school uniforms is violative of rights? 
3) Does the Karnataka government's order of February 5 (banning students from wearing clothing that could disturb the peace, harmony, and law and order), apart from being incompetent and manifestly arbitrary, violates Articles 14 and 15. 

And the answers were: 
1) Wearing hijab, for many Muslim women is not a part of essential religious practice under Islam.
2) The prescription of a school uniform is a reasonable restriction to which students cannot object.
3) The government has the power to issue an order.

The students had argued that wearing a hijab is an essential religious practice under Islam during the hearing. Its suspension, be it for an hour, is a violation of fundamental rights under Articles 19 and 25 of the Constitution. 

The state asserted that the petitioners were aiming to declare hijab as an essential religious practice, which, if accepted, would bind every Muslim woman to a specific dress code. 

The row over wearing hijab started in January after two government colleges in the Udupi and Mangaluru banned girls from entering the classroom wearing it. This triggered protests and, in some places, violent stand-offs amongst the groups supporting the hijab and some against it. 

Protests erupted after fringe Hindu groups mobilised men wearing saffron shawls to prevent women wearing hijabs from entering schools and colleges.

Clashes erupted in the Shivamogga district and elsewhere, prompting the Karnataka government to issue a controversial order on February 5 stating that students who insisted on wearing a hijab would not be allowed to attend classes.