Now Reading: Allahabad High Court Rejects Hijab Plea, Upholds Uniform Rules
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Allahabad High Court Rejects Hijab Plea, Upholds Uniform Rules
The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a petition by a class 11 Muslim student from Tagore Public School in Prayagraj seeking permission to wear a hijab with her school uniform. A division…
The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a petition by a class 11 Muslim student from Tagore Public School in Prayagraj seeking permission to wear a hijab with her school uniform. A division bench of Justice JJ Munir and Justice Indrajeet Shukla ruled that wearing the hijab cannot be established as an essential religious practice of Islam.
The court upheld the school management's authority to enforce a uniform dress code, stating that personal choices cannot override prescribed uniforms and that school policies must remain neutral. Referring to past rulings including one from Karnataka, the court reaffirmed that school administrations have full autonomy to set dress regulations as long as religious sentiments are not unjustifiably harmed.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The Allahabad High Court ruling aligns with a 2022 Karnataka High Court judgment that also found the hijab not essential to Islam in the context of school uniforms. That decision was upheld by the Supreme Court in a split verdict in October 2022, leaving the matter unresolved at the national level. The core legal question remains whether wearing the hijab is a constitutionally protected religious practice under Article 25 or a matter of school discipline. The Supreme Court is yet to hear an appeal against the Karnataka verdict on its merits. The next legal development to watch is whether the petitioner approaches the Supreme Court for a review of the Allahabad ruling.
Source: indiatoday.in
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
