K’taka HC verdict on hijab ‘blow’ to universal right to education sans discrimination: CPI(M)

Calling the Karnataka High Court verdict on hijab a ”blow” to the universal right to education without discrimination, the CPI(M) said the move would push young Muslim women out of educational institutions in Karnataka.

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday said hijab is not part of the essential religious practice in Islam and upheld the ban against headscarf in educational institutions in the state. It dismissed pleas from Muslim women students seeking permission to wear hijab in classrooms.

In a statement, the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Wednesday said there are many questionable aspects of the judgement, which came as a “blow” against the universal right to education without discrimination, guaranteed by the law and the Constitution of India.

”By upholding the admittedly flawed order of the Karnataka Government which virtually prohibits the use of hijab in classrooms, its immediate effect would be to push out young Muslim women from educational institutions in Karnataka,” the party stated.

The CPI(M) said the Supreme Court should hear the appeals without delay and hoped that the highest Court will “uphold Constitutional guarantees and deliver justice”.

“The head scarf worn by Muslim students in many states of India has never been considered a violation of the rule of a common uniform in schools and colleges across India. The best example is in neighbouring Kerala which has the record of the highest participation of Muslim girls in schools and in higher educational and professional institutions,” the party stated. The CPI(M) said this judgement gives the committees in educational institutions — which in Karnataka are headed by MLAs who may have their own sectarian agendas and biases — the right to decide about the headscarf. ”Given that this agenda suits the overall approach of the BJP for communal polarisation, the Karnataka High Court judgement may have a dangerous cascading impact across India,” it said.