'Hijab as important as education,' say Udupi Muslim girls as HC verdict challenged in SC

The six Muslim girls, whose petitions seeking permission to wear hijab inside college classrooms were dismissed by the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday, said they will not go to college without hijab and fight the case legally till they get "justice".

Addressing a press meet in Udupi soon after the high court verdict, the girls said hijab is as important as education to them.

"We had approached the high court seeking permission to wear hijab in the classrooms. The order has come against us. We will not go to the college without hijab but we will fight for it. We will try all the legal ways. We will fight for justice and our rights," said the girls.

Terming the high court verdict unconstitutional, the girls said the Constitution has provided them the right to follow their religion.

“Quran clearly mentions about hijab. If hijab was not necessary we would not have worn it,” they said.

The girls alleged that the issue has been blown out of proportion and made communal by certain forces for political gains. “This is not a stay on hijab, this is a stay on our education. Dr B.R. Ambedkar would have cried today if he would have been alive and he would have sulked after seeing the plight,” they said.

Meanwhile, a plea has been filed in the Supreme Court against the high court verdict. The petition was filed by Niba Naaz, a student who was not part of the group of girls who had approached the high court.

Earlier in the day, the high court dismissed the petitions seeking permission to wear hijab inside the classroom, saying hijab is not a part of the essential religious practice in Islamic faith.

The prescription of school uniform is only a reasonable restriction, constitutionally permissible which the students cannot object to, the high court said.