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The Special Bench of Karnataka High Court yesterday told a counsel to go and argue his case before the TV channel as he mentioned before the court that TV channels were showing a lot of Muslim women being harassed for wearing Hijab. The counsel mentioned this at the fag end of the hearing as the bench was rising. 

It is to be noted that Advocate General Prabhuling Navadgi had on Friday informed the court a letter be handed over to him on alleged "State excesses" in implementing the interim order passed by the court. The AG informed Court, "I have told the Chief Secretary to convene a meeting on excesses committed for implementation of the order. All such instances will be taken care of. There will be no problem."

The special bench headed by CJ Ritu Raj Awasthi and consisting of Justices Krishna Dixit and Khazi on Monday prior to the beginning of the hearing asked the AG, “We would like to have one clarification on GO. It says there is no restriction on Hijab, the GO says nothing about it. Is this your stand?” The Advocate General Prabhuling Navadgi answered this in the affirmative.

The Bench immediately asked him,

“What is the meaning of the words used which say uniforms have to be followed. Do you permit wearing Hijab in institutions or not? If they permit you do not or do you have an objection?”

The AG replied to this saying  the State’s stand is that Hijab is not a fundamental right .The AG clarified that the government order dated 5th February 2022,  if read as it is gives complete autonomy to the institution to decide on the uniforms. 

The court then immediately asked the AG, “Your stand is that the State is not interfering, it is left to the CDC? Do we have to go into constitutional questions in that case?”

The AG at this point convinced the court that the constitutional question, if left open will lead to other repercussions and the issue in hand may go on for long. The AG further urged the court to continue hearing. The court agreed to do so and heard the matter.

The hearing for this matter will continue at today at 2.30 PM

Case title: X Vs State of Maharashtra