Karnataka hijab row: HC refers case to larger bench

A decision on whether schools and colleges can order Muslim girls to not wear hijabs in class was passed on to a larger bench by the Karnataka High Court on Wednesday, a day after a face-off over the right to wear religious headscarves forced educational institutes to close down for three days."These matters give rise to certain constitutional questions of seminal importance in view of certain aspects of personal law," the judges said, referring the case to a panel of judges to be led by the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court.

The standoff in Karnataka over headscarves has been intesnifying for days with fresh demonstrations on Tuesday seeing officers fire tear gas to disperse a crowd at one government-run campus, while a heavy police presence was seen at schools in nearby towns. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai appealed for calm after announcing all high schools in the state would be closed for three days. Earlier, appearing for Karnataka, Advocate General Prabhuling Navadagi told High Court that students must attend class adhering to the college dress code."By that logic, this petition itself does not stand. All these years they have been wearing a uniform, let them continue. Hijab will bring in religious identity. We object to that, said the advocate general.The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday resumed the hearing of petitions, filed by students of the Government Pre-University College for Girls, Udupi, challenging hijab ban inside classrooms.

The advocate general told the court that all are seeking early disposal of the case, whatever be the judgement as this has become a larger issue.Advocate General also said College Development Committee (CDC) can decide what the dress code is for that college. "I wanted to say the petitions are misconceived. They have questioned the government order (GO). Each institution has been given autonomy. The state does not take a decision. Therefore prima facie case is not made out."Earlier, Justice Krishan Dixit observed that he felt this matter requires consideration of larger bench. He said the wisdom emanating from neighbouring high court judgments needs to be treated.The judge said he went through the citations submitted yesterday. At the conclusion of the hearing on Tuesday, Justice Dixit asked the student community and the general public to avoid taking to the streets.