An Indian High Court has ruled that the traditional hijab is not a critical part of Muslim religious practice, after a petition was filed to challenge a government ban on wearing the headscarves in educational institutions.
Six Muslim students had petitioned the Karnataka High Court to declare the hijab as part of their essential religious practices after a row erupted in the southern state over the use of religious symbols in schools and colleges.
The court dismissed three petitions and upheld the government ban.
“Wearing of hijab is not essential religious practice of Islamic faith,” said Chief Justice Rituraj Awasthi.
The court had earlier passed an interim order banning any religious clothing in education institutions and had reserved its ruling on February 25 after daily hearings for nearly two weeks.
Before Tuesday's verdict, the state had banned large gatherings for a week in several parts of the state including capital Bengaluru "to maintain public peace and order".
Protests and counter-protests marked the opening of schools in the communally sensitive state in December and January, with the government shutting down educational institutions over fears of violence.
Controversy over the hijab had been brewing for months after six Muslim students at the state-run Women's Pre-University College in Udupi were barred from entering classrooms while wearing hijabs, in late December.
The move sparked protests by Muslim students outside the college campus, demanding that they be allowed to attend regular classes.
The protests intensified and spread to other colleges after the government defended the hijab ban.
Tensions soared after hundreds of Hindu students wearing saffron scarves — a colour used by hardline Hindu nationalists — rallied at campuses and on the streets to counter Muslim female students demanding the right to wear the hijab.
The students marched chanting "Jai Shri Ram", a traditional Hindu salutation that has in recent years become a war cry, and heckled some hijab-wearing students.
Several incidents of stone-pelting were reported in the region and police used tear gas to disperse crowds.
The issue soon snowballed into a national political controversy and several opposition political leaders accused the government of allowing the situation to go out of hand.
But the state government run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party defended the decision, saying that the educational institutions have the right to prescribe and enforce rules on the wearing of uniform, including a no-hijab policy under the Karnataka Education Act-1983 that makes uniform compulsory.
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