Allahabad HC Rejects Plea Seeking Permission To Wear Hijab In School Says 'Not Essential Part Of Islamic Faith'

(MENAFN- Live Mint) The Allahabad High Court, last week, junked the plea of a Muslim girl who had sought permission to wear a hijab along with her school uniform, saying that the hijab is not an essential practice when it comes to observing the Islamic faith.

The bench, comprising Justice JJ Munir and Justice Indrajeet Shukla, said that the student cannot insist that a standard dress code be modified where it is "uniform, bona fide, nondiscriminatory and intended to maintain discipline and institutional identity", Live Law reported.

The Bench also noted that there is no pronouncement by the Supreme Court that can settle the issue.

What was the case about?

The petitioner is a minor student at an unaided private school affiliated to the CBSE in Prayagraj's Attarsuiya. She was seeking admission into Class XI of the same school after passing her class X board exams.

The petitioner moved the HC through her mother, asking the court to direct the school authorities to allow her to wear the hijab "in addition to the uniform prescribed by the School for all their students”.

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She said that she had been wearing the headscarf through Class VI to X without there being any objection from the school authorities. She alleged that despite this, the authorities refused to admit her into Class XI because she wanted to continue wearing her hijab.

She made the case that wearing the headscarf is an“essential religious practice” and preventing her to wear the same were violating her fundamental rights as guaranteed under Article 13 and 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

On its part, the school has maintained that it is a private enterprise affiliated to the CBSE, and that its dress code applies to students from all backgrounds.

The school's principal had put forward that other girls belonging to the same faith as the complainant were following the dress code, and that if one person is granted an exception, it could be detrimental to the administration as well as discipline of the school.

"In the past, the School might not have raised objection to the petitioner wearing a headscarf when she was reading in the lower classes, either due to lethargy, inaction, lack of will, nonenforcement of the uniform policy, even courtesy or hesitation, but that would not give rise to an estoppel against the School when they decide to enforce a uniform policy, enforcing their dress code," the court said, as per Live Law, rejecting the argument that if the petitioner was allowed to wear her hijab earlier she must be allowed to continue to do so.

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"...so long as the dress code is uniform, bona fide, nondiscriminatory and intended to maintain discipline and institutional identity, the choice of the prescribed uniform primarily lies within the domain of the School," the court also said, as per Live Law.

When speaking on the argument that the headscarf is part of essential religious practice, the Court said this was a 'base assertion', adding, "Wherever this issue has arisen, the High Courts have been unanimous in opinion that wearing a headscarf is not essential part of the Islamic faith for a women to don, in the absence of which, faith would be jeopardized".

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