Karnataka Hijab Row: Students Who Missed Exams Before Interim Order May Get Second Chance To Appear For Tests

The students in Karnataka who missed their exams before the interim order on hijab row may be allowed to appear for re-examination, the state government said.

New Delhi: The students in Karnataka who missed their exams before the interim order on hijab row may be allowed to appear for re-examination, the state government said. Karnataka Law Minister JC Madhuswamy said only those students who did not appear for the exams before the interim order will be given a second chance for re-examination and not the ones who boycotted the tests after the order.

The minister said this in response to a question on students who missed exams amid hijab row will be given a second chance to appear for the tests.

The Karnataka High Court, in its interim order last week, had dismissed the petitions filed by a section of students from the Government Pre-University Girls College in Udupi, seeking permission to wear Hijab inside the classroom.

The prescription of school uniform is only a reasonable restriction, constitutionally permissible which the students cannot object to, the high court had said.

In one of the pleas filed in the Supreme Court, the petitioner said the high court has erred in creating a dichotomy of freedom of religion and freedom of conscience wherein the court has inferred that those who follow a religion cannot have the right to conscience. The high court has failed to note that the right to wear a Hijab comes under the ambit of the right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. It is submitted that the freedom of conscience forms a part of the right to privacy, it said.

The high court had maintained that the government has the power to issue impugned order dated February 5, 2022, and no case is made out for its invalidation.

By the said order, the Karnataka government had banned wearing clothes that disturb equality, integrity, and public order in schools and colleges, which the Muslim girls had challenged in the high court.