If declared essential, dress will be forced on all, says AG

If a court were to declare certain dress as essential for a religion, it would force each person of the community to wear it, Karnataka advocate general Prabhuling Navadgi contended in the Karnataka high court on Tuesday.

"The consequence of the demand to declare hijab as an essential religious practice is huge because there is an element of compulsion or else you will be expelled from the community," Navadgi contended before a full bench of chief justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and justices Krishna S Dixit and Justice Khazi Jaibunnisa Mohiuddin. The AG concluded his arguments on Tuesday and the HC indicated that it would like to rule on the case before the week ended. "We want to finish this case this week itself. Make all endeavours to finish this case by the end of this week," Awasthi said.

Meanwhile, one of the petitioners, Hazra Shifa, said in Udupi that a mob attacked her brother and her family's restaurant. Reports said glass windows of the family-run restaurant in Malpe was broken on Monday night. "My brother was brutally attacked by a mob. Just because I continue to stand for my hijab, which is my right. Our property was ruined. Can't I demand my right? Who will be their next victim? I demand action against Sangh Parivar goons," Shifa alleged in a tweet on Tuesday.