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The Karnataka High Court reserved its judgment in the plea(s) challenging alleged ban on wearing the Hijab at Pre-University colleges of Udupi, Karnataka.

The 3 judge bench comprising of Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court & Justices Krishna Dixit & AM Khazi reserved their verdict after continuously hearing arguments over 11 days.

Today, the petitioner(s) who had come before court apart from the original petitioner(s) made submissions before Court.

Advocate Md. Tahir for one of the petitioner(s) told Court that the interim order which restrained students from wearing religious attire to school was only rudimentary for the girls who wore Hijab. 

He said that the Court had passed an order for those who wore Hijab and those who wore the Saffron Shawls to school but the persons who were actually affected negatively were girls in hijabs.

"Has anyone who wore saffron shawls come before My lords to say they are facing problems? No. The Hijab is a cultural practice, the saffron shawls were a counterblast to the Hijab and that was 'Hooliganism'," he said.

Tahir further informed Court that though practices like the Saraswati Pooja were allowed in schools, the Respondent(s) had taken the stand that the Hijab cannot be permitted in a "secular institution". This is an unfounded ground, he said, adding that the ground was basis a "so-called secular" practice which was currently being followed by institutions, as practices of religions are adopted.

Tahir informed Court that the respondents had filed fabricated documents before court so far as the college development council resolution was concerned as on the date on which they said it was passed, no such authority existed.

It was here that Senior Advocate Naganand clarified that there was a typographical error in the document while the Advocate General said that prior to 2014, the name of the council was college betterment council and later had been changed.

Another petitioner, Advocate Subhash Jha made arguments before the Court. He had sought for a CBI probe into the alleged involvement of radical outfits giving way to the push for Hijab in India. He told Court that the same was a nefarious design of radical outfits like Jamiat-ullema-e-hind, Campus front of India and Popular Front of India which were not only being funded by Saudi Arabia but were also being supported by our neighbour, Pakistan.

Case title: X Vs State of Karnataka & Ors