Bombay High Court Dismisses Petition Challenging College’s Hijab Ban (image-X/Viral_Watchdog)
On Wednesday, the Bombay High Court dismissed the petition challenging a Mumbai college’s ban on wearing hijab, burkha, and niqab on its premises. The plea was filed by nine female students who are reportedly in the second and third years of a science degree course.
A division bench of Justices A. S. Chandurkar and Rajesh Patil of the Bombay High Court said it was not inclined to interfere in the decision taken by Chembur Trombay Education Society’s N. G. Acharya and D.K. Marathe College in Mumbai.
Read Also: Pune Porsche Accident: Bombay High Court Orders Immediate Release Of Accused Minor
Approaching the High Court on June 14, the students from the two colleges challenged a directive issued by the colleges on certain dress codes barring students from wearing burkha, hijab, niqab, stole, cap, and badges on campus.
In their plea, the students claimed that the new dress code directly violated their fundamental right to practice their religion and their right to privacy and dignity. The plea called the college’s directive “arbitrary, unreasonable, bad-in-law, and perverse.”
The college had claimed that their decision to ban hijab, niqab, and burqa from the campus was a disciplinary action for the uniform dress code and was not against the Muslim community.
Differentiating the case from the Karnataka High Court judgement on hijab ban in junior colleges, Advocate Altaf Khan, representing the petitioners, stated that this case concerned senior college students who have a dress code but not a uniform. The advocate argued that the directive was imposed without any legal authority as it was issued via WhatsApp, unlike the Karnataka case where a pre-existing uniform policy was enforced.
Read Also: Former DU Professor GN Saibaba, 5 Others Acquitted by Bombay High Court In UAPA Case
Khan also claimed that the dress code violated the students’ rights to autonomy, bodily integrity, and choice.
Anil Anturkar, the senior counsel representing the college management, said that the dress code was applicable to all the students from every religion and caste.
However, the students claimed that the directive was “nothing but a colorable exercise of power.”
