Nine students move Bombay HC over college's ban on hijab, naqab, burka in classroom
Mumbai, Jun 14: Nine students have moved the Bombay High Court challenging a directive issued by their college imposing a ban on hijab, burka and naqab in the classroom.
In their petition, the girls said the ban imposed by the Chembur Trombay Education Society' s NG Acharya and DK Marathe College was "arbitrary, unreasonable, bad-in-law and perverse".
A bench headed by Justice AS Chandurkar will hear the petition next week.
As per the plea, on May 1, a notice along with a message was circulated on the college's WhatsApp group, which includes faculty members and students, imposing a dress code restriction on burka, naqab, hijab, badges, cap and stole.
The petitioners, who are second and third year degree students, said such a directive was "nothing but colourable exercise of power".
The naqab, burka and hijab are an integral part of the petitioners' religious belief and imposing a ban on it was violative of their fundamental rights, the plea contended.
The petitioners initially requested the college management and principal to withdraw the restriction on naqab, burka and hijab and allow it "as a matter of right of choice, dignity and privacy in the classroom".
They also raised their grievance against the notice with the chancellor and vice chancellor of the University as well as University Grants Commission requesting their intervention "to upkeep the spirit of imparting education to all citizens without discrimination".
However, when they did not get any response, the students filed a petition in HC, the plea said, adding the notice was issued without any authority of law and was hence bad-in-law, null and void.
The plea sought the High Court to quash the notice.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
