Hijab row: High court may pronounce verdict today

NT Correspondent

The Karnataka High Court is likely to pronounce its judgement in the hijab row case on Tuesday.

Ahead of the judgement, prohibitory orders under Section 144 have been imposed in Bengaluru, Belagavi and Shivamogga districts. All kinds of gatherings, agitations, protests, or celebrations in public places are prohibited in Bengaluru for one week from March 15 to March 21, an order issued by the Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru, Kamal Pant said. According to sources, more than 10,000 policemen are being deployed across the city as a precautionary measure to prevent any untoward incident. Additional reserve police force and city armed reserve will also be deployed at all sensitive points in Bengaluru. The DCPs have been asked to keep a tab on social media too, the order said.

Meanwhile, all schools and colleges have been closed in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada district on Tuesday. In fact the hijab row broke out after girl students of a PU college in Udupi district were denied entry into their classes wearing the hijab.

Prohibitory orders have also been imposed in Mysuru district from March 15-20 as a precautionary measure while the curbs will be in place in Vijayapura on March 15.

The matter had reached the courts and a full bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice Krishna S Dixit and Justice J M Khazi was constituted on February 9 on a petition filed by the girls from Udupi who prayed that they should be allowed to wear hijab even inside the classroom along with the school uniform as it was part of their faith. While the court was considering their petition, protests against hijab broke out in several colleges in the state, with Hindu students sporting saffron shawls to mark their opposition to the wearing of hijab in educational institutions.

Schools and colleges were shut down across the state for several days to prevent unsavoury incidents. In an interim order, the high court bench had said that till the verdict in the case, no religious dress-hijab or saffron shawls- would be allowed in classrooms.