In a significant verdict, India's Karnataka High Court on Tuesday upheld the state government's ban on wearing hijabs in educational institutions, claiming that wearing the Muslim headscarf is "not essential religious practice in Islam".
"Educational institutions have a right to prescribe uniforms and, as such, have dismissed all writ petitions by girl/women students," a three-judge Bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justices Krishna S. Dixit, and J.M. Khazi noted.
Ahead of the order, the Karnataka government had prohibited any large gathering for a week in the capital city of Bengaluru and many other districts "to maintain public peace and order".
On Tuesday, schools and colleges were shut down in the Udupi District, where the Hijab protest had originated.
In their petitions, a group of Muslim students rom the Government Women's Pre-University College in Udupi argued before the court that wearing the hijab was their fundamental right as part of freedom to religion.
However, on 10 February, in its interim order, the court restrained students from wearing "religious clothes'', including the hijab or saffron head scarves or shawls, until further directions.
The court stated that while all citizens have the right to profess and practice any faith, it was subjected to reasonable restrictions under the Constitution of India.
Meanwhile, the petitioner girls can still take up the matter to the country's top court - the Supreme Court of India.
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