Hijab Row: Petitioners Move Supreme Court Against Karnataka HC's Verdict

Aggrieved by the Karnataka High Court's judgement over the Hijab row, Muslim students have moved Supreme Court through Advocate Anas Tanwir on Tuesday.

Dichotomy of freedom of religion and freedom of conscience

In the special leave petition before the Supreme Court, the petitioners have based their argument on the aspect of freedom of conscience.

"The High Court has erred in creating a dichotomy of freedom of religion and freedom of conscience wherein the court has inferred that those who follow a religion cannot have the right to conscience, says the Petition."

Ground of conscience is perfunctory: Karnataka HC

Interestingly, the High Court of Karnataka in its verdict on Tuesday dealt with facet of conscience calling it subjective.

"Whether the petitioners had the conscience of the kind and how they developed it are not averred in the petition with material particulars," the Bench led by by Justice Awasthi said.

The Karnataka High Court maintained that the petitioners have not averred anything as to how they associate wearing hijab with their conscience, as an overt act. 

"Pleadings at least for urging the ground of conscience are perfunctory, to say the least", HC said earlier today.

Brief precursor to the legal row over Hijab

For the uninitiated, a controversy erupted in December last year when 6 teenage girls wearing Hijab in a government-run school in the Udupi District of Karnataka were asked to remove their Hijab in order to attend the class. 

The government stood its ground and stated that prescribed school uniforms should be followed in educational institutions. This led to matters escalating with petitions filed against the government order.

The legal fraternity by and large has been welcoming of the Karnataka High Court's Judgement. It will be interesting to see how the Supreme Court deals with the petitioner's Achilles' heel—the dimension of individual conscience.