SC to hear plea against Bombay HC verdict upholding ban on hijab, burqa in college
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court will hear on Friday a plea challenging a Bombay High Court verdict upholding a Mumbai college's decision to ban hijabs, burqas and naqabs inside the campus.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra on Thursday took note of the submissions of a lawyer that term exams begin today and students from the minority community are bound to face difficulties due to instructions on the dress code.
Lawyer Abiha Zaidi, appearing for the petitioners, including Zainab Abdul Qayyum, had sought an urgent hearing on grounds of the unit tests beginning.
"It is coming up tomorrow (Friday). I have listed it already," the CJI said.
The high court on June 26 refused to interfere with the decision of the Chembur Trombay Education Society's N G Acharya and D K Marathe College imposing the ban, saying such rules do not violate the fundamental rights of students.
It said a dress code is meant to maintain discipline and this is part of the college's fundamental right to "establish and administer an educational institution".
The top court is yet to conclusively decide the legality of such diktats issued by educational institutions.
On October 13, 2022, a two-judge bench of the apex court delivered opposing verdicts in the hijab controversy emanating from Karnataka. The then BJP-led state government had imposed a ban on wearing the Islamic head covering in schools there.
While Justice Hemant Gupta, since retired, dismissed the appeals challenging the judgement of the Karnataka High Court refusing to lift the ban, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia held there shall be no restriction on the wearing of hijab anywhere in schools and colleges of the state.
The top court is yet to constitute a larger bench to decide the Karnataka hijab row.
The Mumbai college's decision has again put the spotlight on the issue.
The Bombay High Court had trashed the plea against the ban, saying the dress code was applicable to all students irrespective of religion or caste.
The students, who were in the second and third year of the science degree course, had moved the high court, challenging a directive issued by the college imposing a dress code under which students cannot wear hijabs, naqabs, burqas, stoles, caps and badges on the premises.
The students claimed it was against their fundamental right to practice religion, the right to privacy and right to choice. The college's action was "arbitrary, unreasonable, bad-in-law and perverse", the plea argued.
The high court, however, said it could not see how the prescription of dress code by the college violated Articles 19(1)(a) (freedom of speech and expression) and 25 (freedom to practice religion) of the Constitution.
The high court had also refused to accept the petitioners' contention that wearing a hijab, naqab and burqa was an essential practice of their religion.
"Except for stating that the same constitutes an essential religious practice on the basis of the English translation of Kanz-ul-Iman and Suman Abu Dawud, there is no material placed to uphold the petitioners' contention that donning of hijab and naqab is an essential religious practice. The contention in that regard, therefore, fails," the HC had said.
The dress code was mandatory only within the college premises and the petitioners' freedom of choice and expression was not otherwise affected, it had said.
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TN polls: TVK pushes DMK behind with leads in 83 seats, AIADMK ahead in 54
Chennai (PTI): New entrant TVK, led by actor-politician Vijay, was leading in as many as 83 constituencies on Monday when counting of votes polled in the April 23 Assembly polls was on across Tamil Nadu. The AIADMK was leading in 58 seats while the ruling DMK was ahead in 34, EC data showed.
About two hours after the postal ballots were counted and EVMs opened for multi-round counting, Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam surged ahead of its Dravidian rivals-- the DMK and the AIADMK, with the ruling party struggling to catch up.
If the trends maintain, Vijay could as well ensure the biggest electoral upset, something in lines with the "1967,1977" wins he had referred to in his campaign speeches.
While the Dravidian stalwart CN Annadurai brought the first non-Congress government in Tamil Nadu post-independence in 1967, the charismatic MG Ramachandran (MGR) installed the maiden AIADMK government 10 years later, unseating then DMK government under M Karunanidhi. TVK was leading in most Chennai segments, all considered DMK strongholds and currently represented by the party in the 234-member House.
A poor show by DMK could belie most exit polls giving an edge to it, riding on the number of populist measures Chief Minister M K Stalin had implemented in his five year "Dravidian model," inclusive governance.
According to EC and TV reports, 15 cabinet ministers, including Stalin were trailing. His son and deputy CM Udhayanidhi was also behind in his incumbent Chepauk-Tirvuvallikeni seat, according to a number of reports.
Stalin was trailing behind TVK's VS Babu by 1234 votes in Kolathur segment. Vijay was ahead in Tiruchirappalli East by over 3,000 votes at the end of two rounds of counting, according to EC data.
BJP is trailing in 26 constituencies and it is ahead in Thali segment alone. TVK is ahead in constituencies including Ponneri, Tiruvallur, Poonamalle, and Avadi.
AIADMK is leading in segments including Katpadi, and Guidyattam and party chief Edappadi K Palaniswami is ahead in Edappadi segment by 7003 votes.
DMK was leading in segments including Vellore, Anaikattu and Rishivandiyam.
