SC declines urgent hearing on hijab row

New Delhi, March 24

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused urgent hearing on petitions challenging the Karnataka HC’s verdict upholding the ban on hijab in educational institutions in the state.

“This has nothing to do with exams. Don’t sensationalise the issue,” a Bench led by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana told senior advocate Devadatt Kamat who mentioned the matter for urgent listing on the ground that examinations were underway.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta took exception to the repeated urgent listing plea, after Kamat said the petitioner girls would lose one academic year if denied permission to wear headscarf and appear in examinations beginning on March 28.

This is the second time that the top court has turned down urgent hearing plea in the matter. Earlier, it had on March 16 refused to take up the petition and said it would be taken up after the Holi vacation.

Last month, the top court had refused to intervene in the hijab controversy even as it had asserted that it would protect the constitutional rights of everyone and would take up the matter at the appropriate time.

The Karnataka High Court had on March 15 upheld the ban on wearing hijab in educational institutions in the state, saying it’s not an essential religious practice of Islam and school uniforms promoted harmony and spirit of common brotherhood.