'Hijab Not Essential to Islam': Allahabad HC Rejects Student’s Plea to Wear Headscarf With School Uniform

Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a petition filed by a Muslim student seeking permission to wear a hijab, or headscarf, along with the prescribed uniform at her school, observing that wearing a headscarf could not be established as an essential religious practice of Islam.

A Division Bench comprising Justices J.J. Munir and Indrajeet Shukla passed the judgment on August 21 in a case involving a student of a private school in Prayagraj. The student, who had completed Class 10 and was seeking admission to Class 11 at the same institution, approached the court through her mother.

The petitioner sought directions to the school authorities to allow her to wear a headscarf in addition to the prescribed school uniform. She claimed that wearing the headscarf was an essential part of her religious practice and said she had been wearing it since Class 6.

The court, however, rejected the argument that wearing a headscarf was an essential religious practice protected under the right to freedom of religion. It observed that no sufficient religious or legal material had been placed before it to establish that wearing a headscarf was obligatory for Muslim women or that not wearing one would jeopardise a person's faith.

The bench also noted that photographs placed before it showed that, apart from the petitioner, no other girl student at the school was wearing a headscarf, including students belonging to the same religious community.

The court said the assertion that wearing a headscarf was an essential religious practice was merely a claim unsupported by adequate material. It further observed that High Courts that had considered the issue had been unanimous in holding that wearing a headscarf was not an essential part of Islamic faith in the absence of which the faith itself would be jeopardised.

On the issue of the school's dress code, the High Court held that an unaided private educational institution has the authority to enforce a uniform policy, provided the rules are bona fide, fair and non-discriminatory. It said students cannot claim an individual legal right to alter the prescribed uniform based on personal preferences.

The ruling therefore upheld the school's authority to insist on adherence to its prescribed uniform and dismissed the student's petition seeking an exemption to wear the headscarf.

The judgment comes amid continuing legal debate in India over religious attire in educational institutions and the extent to which claims of religious practice can override institutional dress codes.

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