Karnataka Notification Violates Article 25 of Constitution: Petitioners

The Karnataka government notification on student uniform violated Article 25 of the Constitution guaranteeing freedom to practice religion of one's choice, senior advocate Devadatt Kamat told the high court on Monday. Appearing for Muslim students from Kundapur, he contended that headscarves were 'part of essential religious practice.'

The Karnataka notification allowed college development committees to prescribe uniforms, but they don't have the backing of law, he argued before a full bench of chief justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and justices Krishna S Dixit and Khazi Jaibunnisa Mohiuddin. In the petitions filed by groups of Muslim girls seeking quashing of the February 5 notification, HC had in an interim order last week stayed wearing of religious dress to schools, while asking the state to reopen educational institutions.

Kamat said the petitioners had been wearing hijabs with the same colour as the uniform since they joined the college, and they were not asking for some other colour. He quoted from judgments of different HCs to say there has not been any authoritative pronouncement to say that wearing of hijab is not an essential practice of Islam. The court will continue the hearing on Tuesday.


"I am not only challenging the GO but also asking for a positive mandate for allowing me to wear a headscarf of the same colour of the uniform," Kamat pleaded. He said that the central schools permit Muslim girls to wear headscarves of the school uniform colour and the same could be done elsewhere. and restricting its use was violating Article 25 of the Indian Constitution.

Article 25 reads: "Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion." The article also says that nothing in it should affect the operation of any existing law or prevent the state from making any law regulating or restricting any economic, financial, political or other secular activity which may be associated with religious practice and regulating or restricting any economic, financial, political or other secular activity which may be associated with religious practice.

"A CDC comprising an MLA is an extra constitutional authority and a third party to decide what to wear. The government has assigned its responsibility to this third party," Kamat argued. The court adjourned further hearing of the case to Tuesday.