Bombay HC junks plea of Muslim students against hijab ban by Mumbai college

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has rejected a plea filed by 9 Muslim girls of a Mumbai college challenging the latter's ban on sporting hijabs, veils, stole, caps, etc, here on Wednesday.

A division bench comprising Justice A. S. Chandurkar and Justice Rajesh Patil dismissed the plea saying they were not inclined to interfere in the decision by the Chembur Trombay Education Society (CTES)’s NG Acharya & DK Marathe College, in Chembur East.

The girls, students of SYBSc and TYBSc (Computer Science) programmes for the past two years, had termed the CTES management’s decision as “arbitrary, unreasonable, bad in law and perverse” in their petition, and are likely to challenge the high court verdict in the Supreme Court.

The students through their lawyer Altaf Khan contended that the new dress code imposed by the college violated their fundamental rights to privacy, dignity and religious freedom.

Khan said he would consult the students and their parents before moving the SC against the high court order.

Besides moving the high court, the girls had also written to the University of Mumbai, the University Grants Commission, the Vice-Chancellor, and the Chancellor seeking their intervention in the matter.

Senior Advocate Anil Anturkar representing the college, argued that the dress code was not targeted at only the Muslims, but was uniformly applicable to all religious symbols.

He pointed out that the college policy is to prevent the open display of religious symbols unless they are essential under the fundamental right to religion such as the turban for the Sikhs.

Anturkar also challenged Khan to prove his contentions that wearing hijab-veil is an essential religious practice in Islam and said the students should concentrate on their studies rather than displaying such religious symbols.

He said that the petitioner students were aware of the college’s dress code when they took admission, and in future, if someone flaunts other religious symbols like a mace or a saffron attire, the college would also object to it.

Reacting to the high court verdict, Samajwadi Party state president Abu Asim Azmi said that the Constitution allows everyone in the country to follow their religion and expressed the hope that the SC will permit the girls to wear hijabs-veils in schools and colleges.