Daijiworld Media Network - Prayagraj
Prayagraj, Aug 25: The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a Muslim student's plea seeking permission to wear a hijab or headscarf along with her prescribed school uniform, holding that she failed to establish that wearing a headscarf is an essential religious practice in Islam.
A division bench comprising Justice J J Munir and Justice Indrajeet Shukla delivered the judgment on August 21 while hearing a petition filed by a minor student of Tagore Public School in Attarsuiya, Prayagraj. The student, identified in court records as Sukaina Rizvi, had passed Class X and sought admission to Class XI at the same school.
The student approached the court through her mother, seeking directions to the school authorities to permit her to wear a headscarf in addition to the uniform prescribed for all students. She said she had studied at the school from Class VI to Class X and had worn a headscarf throughout that period without objection from the authorities.
The school, however, maintained that adding a headscarf to the prescribed uniform would violate its dress code.
The High Court held that the petitioner had not placed sufficient factual or legal material on record to establish that wearing a headscarf was an essential religious practice whose non-observance would affect the fundamental character of her Islamic faith.
The bench also noted that photographs from the school showed that no other girl student, including those belonging to the same religious community, was wearing a headscarf.
The court observed that high courts that had considered the issue had consistently held that wearing a headscarf was not an essential part of Islamic faith for a woman, in the absence of which her faith would be jeopardised.
The bench also considered the Karnataka High Court's 2022 Full Bench judgment concerning restrictions on hijab in educational institutions. It said that although the Supreme Court had considered the matter and delivered a split verdict, there was still no authoritative final ruling settling the issue.
In view of this, the Allahabad High Court said the Karnataka Full Bench judgment continued to have “persuasive authority of great value” and found no reason to take a different view.
The court further held that when a school's dress code is uniform, bona fide, non-discriminatory and intended to maintain discipline and institutional identity, prescribing the uniform primarily falls within the school's domain.
The bench rejected the student's argument that her previous practice of wearing a headscarf without objection had created an enforceable right to continue doing so.
The court said that the school's failure to object in earlier classes, whether because of non-enforcement, inaction, courtesy or other reasons, could not prevent it from subsequently enforcing its uniform policy when the student sought admission to Class XI.
The judgment therefore upheld the school's right to enforce its prescribed dress code and dismissed the student's petition seeking permission to wear the headscarf with the uniform.
The ruling comes amid the continuing legal debate over the wearing of hijab in educational institutions, with the Supreme Court yet to deliver a final authoritative ruling after the split verdict arising from the Karnataka case.