In a fresh development, the Supreme Court on Wednesday accepted the plea – filed by a quarter of Muslim girl students seeking permission to attend yearly examinations wearing hijab, for hearing. A bench comprising Chief Justice D.Y.Chandrachud and Justice P.S.Narsimha agreed to entertain the plea saying that the matter shall be considered for hearing.
It is learnt that the petitioner’s advocate Shadan Firasat has argued that the students are preparing to attend the yearly examinations starting from March this year and they need a permission to attend the same wearing hijab. The students already bear a loss of academic year last year. They will suffer another academic loss this year if the court declines to accept their plea and provide them relief.
Explaining that Muslim girl students took transfers from their government colleges to private institutions due to Hijab row, but they still have to enter the premises of government institutions to attend their examinations, the advocate urged the bench to grant interim relief to the students so as to allow them to attend the examinations wearing hijab.
A similar plea seeking relief was also filed on January 23 this year. It is pertinent to mention here that the supreme court passed splitting verdicts on October 13 while hearing the case challenging the validity of imposition of ban over wearing hijab in pre-universities colleges by the Karnataka government.
Earlier, the bench comprising justice Hema Gupta (retired) and justice Sudhanshu Dhuliya observed that the matter will be referred to the Chief Justice of India for creation of a higher bench to hear the case as it carries a ‘conflict of opinion.’
Justice Gupta dismissed the pleas filed challenging the order passed by Karnataka High Court on March 15 last year that observed that the permission to allow wearing a particular religious symbol to a particular community is against the very structure of secularism. Apart from Justice Gupta, Justice Dhuliya too declined to pass any permission for an appeal in the case.
