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Court docket upholds ban in BJP-ruled state, a ruling that may have a bearing in the remainder of the nation, house to 200 million Muslims.
An Indian court docket has upheld a ban on the hijab at school within the southern state of Karnataka, ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP).
“We’re of the thought-about opinion that sporting of hijab by Muslim ladies doesn’t kind part of important spiritual follow,” Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi of the Karnataka Excessive Court docket mentioned in a judgement on Tuesday.
He mentioned the federal government had the ability to prescribe uniform pointers, dismissing varied petitions difficult the order.
College students who had challenged the ban in court docket had mentioned sporting the hijab was a basic proper assured beneath India’s structure and a vital follow of Islam.
The ruling might set a precedent for the remainder of the nation, house to greater than 200 million Muslims, who’ve been focused by the right-wing BJP and its Hindu supremacist allies since Modi got here to energy in 2014.
The dispute started in January when a government-run college in Karnataka’s Udupi district barred college students sporting hijabs from getting into school rooms, triggering protests by Muslims and and counter-protests by Hindu college students.
Extra colleges and faculties within the state adopted with related bans and the state’s high court docket disallowed college students from sporting hijab till it delivered a verdict.
In India, the place Muslims make up 14 p.c of the nation’s 1.4 billion folks, the hijab has traditionally been neither prohibited nor restricted in public spheres.
The dispute has led to criticism that Muslims within the nation are being additional marginalised.
Forward of the decision, Karnataka authorities introduced closures of colleges and faculties and imposed restrictions on public gatherings in some components of the state to forestall potential bother.
Final month, federal Residence Minister Amit Shah mentioned he most popular college students sticking to high school uniforms as an alternative of any spiritual apparel.
Karnataka’s ban had led to protests in another components of the nation too and drew criticism from america and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.