On Thursday, the Supreme Court announced that it will review an appeal on August 9 challenging the Bombay High Court’s decision that supported a Chembur college’s ban on students wearing burqas, hijabs, niqabs, stoles, or caps on campus. Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra confirmed that the hearing will take place on Friday, following the petitioner’s lawyer’s request for an expedited review.
The petitioner’s advocate, contesting the High Court’s decision, urged the Supreme Court to hear the case immediately due to the commencement of exams today. “Are you being stopped from appearing in the exam?” asked the bench. To this, the counsel said, “If students do not adhere to the uniform… please hear it today.”
“It is coming up tomorrow,” said the bench.
In June, the Bombay High Court rejected a plea from a group of female students contesting a Mumbai college’s ban on wearing hijabs, niqabs, burqas, stoles, caps, or any type of badge in the classroom. The court stated that it was unwilling to intervene in the college administration’s decision.
The students involved were from Chembur Trombay Education Society’s NG Acharya and DK Marathe College. The second and third-year students of the B.Sc and B.Sc (Computer Science) programs argued that the new dress code infringes on their fundamental rights to privacy, dignity, and religious freedom. The college informed the High Court that the ban on wearing religious symbols is intended to apply to all religious signs and symbols, and is not specifically aimed at Muslims.
In its order, the High Court had stated, “We are satisfied that the instructions issued by the College under which a dress code has been prescribed for its students do not suffer from any infirmity to violate provisions of Article 19(1)(a) and Article 25 of the Constitution of India. The objective behind issuing the same is that the dress of a student should not reveal his/her religion which is a step towards ensuring that the students focus on gaining knowledge and education which is in their larger interest.”
