A bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia will deliver its verdict on Thursday.
The apex court had earlier reserved its order on petitions challenging the Karnataka High Court to uphold the hijab ban in educational institutes.
The hearing on the ban case lasted for 10 days in which 21 lawyers from the side of the petitioners and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, Solicitor General of Karnataka Prabhuling Navadgi argued for the respondents.
The court was hearing various pleas against the Karnataka HC judgment upholding the Karnataka government’s decision to direct educational institutes to prescribe uniforms in educational institutes.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave submitted that the Karnataka government’s circular that enforced the dress restriction made no mention of the Popular Front of India (PFI). Senior Advocate Dave represented the petitioner.
The Karnataka High Court’s judgment upholding the Karnataka government’s order directing strict implementation of the Uniform Regulations of Schools and Institutions has been challenged by a number of petitioners before the Supreme Court.
One of the appeals to the high court has alleged “step-motherly behavior by government authorities which has prevented students from practicing their faith and has resulted in an unwanted law and order situation”.
The appeal said that the High Court in its impugned order “had vehemently failed and failed to understand the gravity of the situation as well as the basic aspect of essential religious practices enshrined in Article 25 of the Constitution of India”.
A Karnataka High Court bench comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice Krishna S Dixit and Justice JM Khazi had earlier held that the uniform prescription is a reasonable restriction which the students could not object to- se and rejected several petitions challenging the hijab ban in educational institutions saying they have no merit.
The hijab controversy took the country by storm in January this year when the Government PU College in Udupi ‘banned’ the entry of six hijab-wearing girls. After that, the girls sat in protest outside the college because they were denied entry.
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