The high court refers the hijab case to the larger bench. Protests are banned near schools/colleges for 2 weeks in Bengaluru.
The petitions were filed by some Muslim girls studying in Government Pre-University colleges in Udupi district against a ban on their entry into classrooms with their hijabs on.
‘The bench was also of the view that the interim prayers should also be placed before the larger bench that may be constituted by Chief Justice Awasthi exercising his discretion,’ Justice Dixit noted in the order. The court, which heard petitions on the issue Tuesday, appealed to the students and people to maintain peace and tranquillity.
The state government Tuesday announced the closure of high schools and colleges for the next three days following tensions over the hijab row in different parts of the state.
The banners, conveying the message ‘pehle hijab fir kitaab’ (hijab first, book later), were displayed on Monday in Bashirganj and Karanja areas of Beed and were removed on Tuesday.
Beed city police station’s inspector Ravi Sanap told PTI on Wednesday: “The situation in Beed is peaceful. We told them (the activists) that they had put up the banners without permission.
They understood and removed the banners.” Protests for and against the ‘hijab’ had intensified in parts of neighbouring Karnataka and turned violent in some places on Tuesday, after the state government last week issued an order making uniforms prescribed by it or management of private institutions mandatory for its students in schools and pre-university colleges.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Wednesday said, “It is a woman’s right to decide what she wants to wear, be it a bikini, a ‘ghoonghat’, or a ‘hijab’.
Whether it is a bikini, a ghoonghat, a pair of jeans or a hijab, it is a woman’s right to decide what she wants to wear.
This right is GUARANTEED by the Indian constitution. Stop harassing women. #ladkihoonladsaktihoon
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) February 9, 2022
Strong message from Muslim to the world #HijabisOurRight pic.twitter.com/1tzRsi2d80
— م/ عبيدي الزهراني (@ZahraniAbidi) February 4, 2022
“Whether it is a bikini, a ghoonghat, a pair of jeans or a hijab, it is a woman’s right to decide what she wants to wear. This right is GUARANTEED by the Indian constitution. Stop harassing women,” she had tweeted.
“Priyanka Gandhi is a woman, a Congress leader…..we are not questioning the fundamental rights of women (on the hijab issue).
Kerala and Bombay High Courts have said that uniform is mandatory at schools and colleges, the government has also said the same. Using bikini word for girl student’s (dress) is ignoble,” Renukacharya said.