Karnataka: Hijab innocent display of faith, not jingoism, says petitioners’ counsel Devadatt Kamat

Wearing headscarf was an innocent practice of faith and not display of religious jingoism, petitioners in the hijab case contended in the Karnataka high court on Tuesday. Appearing for students of Udupi’s pre-university college, senior counsel Devadatt Kamat argued that Article 25 spoke of freedom of conscience. He requested that students be allowed to attend classes with headscarves and the court’s interim order had suspended their ‘fundamental rights.’

Kamat referred to a judgement of a South African court where a Hindu girl was permitted to wear a nose ring to school. “This case is not about uniforms, but exemptions to existing uniforms,” the lawyer contended. The Indian Constitution follows positive secularism, “not like Turkish secularism, which is negative secularism, our secularism ensures that everyone’s religious rights are preserved,” he said.

“If somebody wears a shawl to counter hijab, one will have to prove it was a display of religious identity alone. If it is sanctioned by Hinduism by our Vedas, Upanishads, our scriptures, our lordships are duty bound to protect it. If not, then the Article 25 does not protect,” Kamat argued.

The hearing will continue on Wednesday, but the row continued to simmer outside the court. Denied entry with their headscarves on, a burqa-clad girl refused to write her exam on Tuesday. “We have grown up wearing hijab since our childhood and we cannot give it up. I will not write the exam and I will go home,” the girl told reporters. In Indavara village in Chikkamagaluru district, parents of girls barged into the campus, raised slogans and demanded a written order for not letting their children in. As the protest intensified, a student pulled out a saffron scarf and sensing trouble, the principal closed the school for the day.

In another institution in Chikkamagaluru town, parents swarmed the school and questioned authorities why their children were not allowed in. Policemen deployed there told the crowd of the HC interim order, but parents insisted that children be allowed to write the exam. In SVS School in the district headquarters town of Tumakuru, parents thronged its premises after children were turned away for wearing hijab. Subsequently, policemen dispersed the protesters. In Udupi district, parents of students staged a protest before the Maulana Azad high school at Mallar Pakirnakatte for forcing hijab-clad students to sit in a separate room. The parents demanded that the students be allowed to sit in classes wearing hijabs.

Home minister Araga Jnanendra said authorities have been directed to initiate legal action against “religious organisations attempting to break society and corrupt innocent students.”