Allahabad High Court dress code verdict sparks row over hijab

A major political controversy erupted after the Allahabad High Court, in a significant judgment, clarified that students cannot insist on altering the dress code prescribed by an educational institution based on their personal preferences.

The court dismissed a petition seeking directions to school authorities to permit a student to wear a headscarf along with the uniform prescribed by the institution.

The petition was filed by a minor girl studying at a private school in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj.

According to details of the case, the student had completed her high school education and was seeking admission to Class 11 in the same school.

The court's decision has triggered a debate over the balance between institutional dress codes and an individual's right to practise and express their religious beliefs.

Muslim clerics on Tuesday urged the Allahabad High Court to reconsider its judgment on wearing a hijab with a school uniform, saying that wearing of the head covering is "compulsory" in Islam.

The Allahabad High Court, in a significant judgment, clarified that a student does not have a right to alter the dress code prescribed by an educational institution according to personal preferences.

The court dismissed a petition, filed by a minor girl studying at a private school in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj, seeking directions to school authorities to allow a student to wear a headscarf in addition to the uniform prescribed by the institution.

Reacting to the court's verdict, All India Muslim Jamaat President Maulana Mufti Shahabuddin Razvi Bareilvi said that school uniform code and hijab are separate matters and that it should not be viewed together.

Speaking to reporters, Bareilvi noted: "Within the boundary of a school, the rules and regulations of the institution should be followed. As far as wearing hijab is concerned...its use has been clearly mentioned in Quran."

"I would request the lawyer and the judges to please refer to the Quran, Hadith (and other religious texts), from where they will get to know about the Islamic practices," he added.

Islamic Centre of India Chairman Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahli said: "We believe that the court's decision regarding hijab needs to be reviewed and reconsidered."

Maintaining that the 'hijab' is an integral part of Islam according to the Quran and Hadith, he added: "We believe that girls who want to go to school wearing a scarf or hijab, should not be stopped. As far as the school uniform is concerned, everyone must wear the uniform if they want to study in that school."

"However, scarf or hijab should be allowed along with the uniform...People of other faiths also wear certain things according to their religion, to which no one has a problem," he told reporters.

President of Shia Markazi Chand Committee, Maulana Saif Abbas Naqvi, also said: "We do not object to dress codes. Every school has a prescribed uniform, and students ought to wear it. If a girl seeks permission to wear a hijab – or a headscarf – I believe that permission should be granted. However, a crucial point to consider is the Allahabad High Court's observation that the hijab is not an essential part of Islam. According to Quran, the hijab is compulsory in Islam. Yet, if 10-25 per cent of women do not wear the hijab, we cannot cast them out of the fold of Islam."

Maulana Abbas told IANS that the Allahabad HC's decision should be appealed in the Supreme Court.

General Secretary of All India Shia Personal Law Board Maulana Yasoob Abbas echoed, saying: "Hijab is compulsory in Islam, and people of every religion and faith live in India. The question is, if a girl wants to go to school wearing a scarf, completely stopping her from doing so, in my view, is absolutely wrong, and the court should reconsider it once again."

He cited the Constitution, noting that it grants equal rights to every religion.

Maulana Sajid Rashidi called the Allahabad HC's judgment on hijab, "an attack on freedom of an individual's choice."

He remarked that the court should focus on pending cases, including those related to women's divorce, rather than commenting on religious matters.

While some leaders backed the court's position, saying that educational institutions have established dress codes, discipline and regulations that students are required to follow, others said that students should not be prevented from following their religious faith within the educational system.

Reacting to the Allahabad High Court's judgment, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that the issue should not be allowed to become a source of communal tension.

"I think no one should try to create communal controversy or communal tension in the name of hijab. Educational institutions have their own dress codes, discipline and regulations. Everyone should respect that. This is what the Allahabad High Court has also said," Naqvi added.

'Need to protect' religious identity

Communist Party of India MP, P. Santhosh Kumar, however, said that while uniforms were important as a symbol of equality, students should also be allowed to retain their religious identity and practise their faith.

"Uniform is compulsory, but at the same time, this has been a controversial issue over the years. A student has every right to continue with his or her religious faith. One's right to believe in and practise the religion or faith of their choice cannot be undermined. So, we need to protect that as well," Kumar added.

Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) National Spokesperson Vinod Bansal strongly backed the court's position and said that courts have repeatedly dealt with questions surrounding hijab and burqa.

"Not once, but many times, the courts have said regarding the hijab, burqa and all these things that neither are they a part of Islam, nor are they part of Islamic beliefs or the Quran, nor does Indian civilisation and culture say that small, innocent girls should be kept captive by your extremist mindset," Bansal said.

He also added that schools are meant to teach students values such as equality, unity, integrity and brotherhood and questioned the need to distinguish students on the basis of their religious identity.

"The way young girls go to school where they are taught equality, unity, integrity and brotherhood, why do you want to isolate them there and make them appear different from the other children with their religious identity?" the VHP Spokesperson said.

Bansal also criticised repeated approaches to courts over the issue, claiming that the Judiciary had already delivered several decisions concerning the matter.

'Personal choice'

Congress leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan took a different view, describing wearing a hijab or covering one's head as a matter of personal choice and said that head-covering traditions exist across different communities in India.

"This shouldn't even be a massive debate of topic, yet we continuously observe such subjects being brought up to distract from core issues. The concept of the hijab and modest covering is a personal choice," Khan said.

"If you look at Indian society traditionally, it is not only Muslim women who wear a hijab, 'ghoonghat', or cover their head with an 'odhni'. This is part of our shared cultural tradition," the Congress leader added.

Khan acknowledged that schools have their own rules but said that students who wish to cover their heads should be permitted to do so.

Senior advocate and BJP leader Nalin Kohli said the Allahabad High Court's decision appeared to be consistent with various Supreme Court judgments dealing with the question of what constitutes the 'essential practices' of a religion.

He stressed that students attend schools for education and that institutions that are not established on a religious basis generally have a uniform applicable to all students.

"The important point is that children go to schools that are not run on the basis of religion for education, and there is a uniform," Kohli said.

He also referred to Article 26 of the Constitution, saying that religious minorities have the right to establish and administer their own educational institutions based on their respective religious principles.

Kohli added that families who want their children to study in institutions operating according to particular religious principles have the option of choosing such schools.

However, the BJP leader said that students attending institutions that are not religiously affiliated would ordinarily be expected to follow the uniform prescribed by those schools.

Indo-Asian News Service