[Hijab Case] Supreme Court to pronounce judgment tomorrow

The Supreme Court will pronounce its verdict tomorrow in a batch of appeals challenging a Karnataka High Court verdict that had upheld a Karnataka government order (GO) effectively empowering government colleges in the State to ban the wearing of hijab by Muslim girl students in college campus [Fathima Bushra vs State of Karnataka]..The verdict will be delivered by a bench comprising Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia which had reserved its judgment on September 22 after hearing the matter for ten days.Twenty-one counsel had appeared for the appellants in the case and five for the respondents..The challenge before the Supreme Court is against a Karnataka High Court decision from March 15 upholding the Karnataka government order.The petitioners - Muslim girl students from various colleges in Karnataka - had approached the High Court after they were denied permission to attend classes on account of wearing hijab.A three-judge Bench of then Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justices Krishna S Dixit and JM Khazi of the High Court had held that:- Hijab is not a part of essential religious practices of Islam;- Requirement of uniform is a reasonable restriction on the fundamental right to freedom of expression under Article 19(1)(a);- The government has the power to pass the GO; no case is made out for its invalidation.The appellants before the Supreme Court contended that this was a case of State failing to provide reasonable accommodation to a student exercise her right under Articles 19 and 21.They also underscored that only if an attire disrupts public order, it can be restricted and it was the responsibility of the State to ensure an atmosphere was created where one could exercise their fundamental rights.Regarding the issue of Essential Religious Practice Test (ERP) and whether hijab is essential to Islam, the appellants contended that the only issue that needed to be considered was whether the restriction was deemed to be a valid Constitutional restriction.On the other hand, some of the appellants also took a stand that everything in the Quran was mandatory and nothing was directory. Therefore, wearing the hijab was essential to Islam.The appellants also claimed that the government order discriminated against on the grounds of both religion and sex..The State government, on the other hand, maintained that the order was "religion-neutral" and did not target any particular community.The court was informed that the female Muslim students challenging the hijab ban never wore hijab to educational institutions until 2021, but suddenly started the practice on advice by someone else when a movement designed to create an agitation was started on social media by the Popular Front of India.It was also the government's submission that an ERP was only one that could be traced back to the origin of a religion itself or was so compelling that one could not fathom the religion without it..Read more about Day 1 here.Read more about Day 2 here.Read more about Day 3 here.Read more about Day 4 here.Read more about Day 5 here.Read more about Day 6 here.Read more about Day 7 here.Read more about Day 8 here.Read more about Day 9 hereRead more about Day 10 here.