The educated, respectable and established Muslims voices, that were on the modernising side on the Shah Bano issue, are fighting on the opposite side now, mostly because they worry about Narendra Modi, observes Shekhar Gupta.
The Bench, constituted on February 9 and comprising the Chief Justice, Justice Krishna S Dixit and Justice Jaibunnisa M Khazi, heard on a day-to-day basis over the last two weeks a batch of petitions filed by some girls seeking permission to wear the hijab in educational institutions where a uniform has been prescribed.
As you know that the Karnataka Education Act and Rule does not permit any religious items inside the class. So we are very clear that no student can wear hijab inside the class, Nagesh explained.
'I am not in favour of the hijab myself.' 'I personally think it wrong to make women shut themselves out of the world, where there is so much to see.' 'But I can't dictate to others about what they should wear.'
In her resignation letter, Battull Hammid, who served as the principal of Viva College of Law in Virar, claimed she was quitting the post as she was feeling uncomfortable and suffocated.
Some important simple truths about the issue may be more helpful than high sounding debates, asserts Mohammad Sajjad.
'Thousands of hijabis students are waiting to resume their education'
The Supreme Court said on Thursday it is not the 'interpreter' of the Holy Quran and it has been argued before it in the Karnataka hijab ban matter that courts are not equipped to interpret religious scriptures.
'Whether it is a bikini, a ghoonghat, a pair of jeans or a hijab, it is a woman's right to decide what she wants to wear'
No 'hijab' ban in MP: Day after, minister backtracks
The six Muslim girl students of the Government Pre University Girls College in the coastal town of Udupi did not turn up for classes on Wednesday, a day after their petition seeking permission to wear hijab inside classrooms was dismissed by the Karnataka high court.
The girls insisted that they should be allowed to write the exam wearing hijab but the college authorities citing the High Court order denied them entry.
Noting that Muslim girls are doing "so well" everywhere and so they need encouragement, Khan also said they do not need to be pushed down.
Llast week the girls came to the college in Puttur Taluk of Dakshina Kannada district wearing Hijab and protested demanding permission to wear the headscarf.
The hijab protests began on February 4 at the Government Girls PU college in Udupi district in Karnataka when some students alleged that they had been barred from attending classes.
Masood Manna, who is known to Shifa, claimed in a tweet that a mob of 150 people attacked Saif.
The government, however, made it clear entry into classrooms with hijab will not be allowed.
Asserting that hijab is the "identity" of Muslims, senior advocate Dushyant Dave told the Supreme Court on Monday that various acts of omission and commission like Karnataka's headscarf controversy showed a "pattern to marginalise the minority community".
The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce its verdict on Thursday on a batch of petitions challenging the Karnataka high court judgment refusing to lift the ban on hijab in educational institutions of the state.
India and Indians can ignore Pakistan, but that cannot be said of other nations in the neighbourhood, where New Delhi's 'Neighbourhood First' policy constantly reverberates. Four of the eight SAARC member-nations are Muslim -- Afghanistan and Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Maldives. The rulers decide the nation's India or anti-India policy in the first two, and street-opinion contributes to the same in the latter two, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked whether there is any authentic figure regarding the dropping out of students from educational institutions in Karnataka because of the hijab ban and the subsequent judgment by the high court on the issue.
Scenes of angry parents of such children arguing with police and school authorities and an instance of a student trying to flaunt a saffron scarf as an apparent retaliation were also reported.
Amid row over wearing hijab in classrooms in some colleges in Karnataka, the Bharatiya Janata Party state chief Nalin Kumar Kateel said the state government will not allow 'Talibanisation'.
The Karnataka government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that the state has not touched any "religious aspect" in the hijab ban row and that the restriction on wearing the Islamic headscarf is limited to the classroom.
In a 8.43-minute video clip released by the terror outfit online, and verified by the American SITE Intelligence Group, Zawahiri also showered praises on Karnataka college student Muskan Khan for confronting a group of students opposing hijab in her college in early February.
Two other teachers who were the centre superintendents were also placed under suspension.
Photos posted by both outlets appeared to show her with no headscarf during the tournament. Khabarvarzeshi also posted a photo of her wearing a headscarf but without saying if it was taken at the same event.
'These are the people who don't want peace in the state, who want to disturb the harmony in the state.'
Citing popular protests in Iran, an Islamic country, against the mandatory use of hijabs, he claimed that religion freedom in India cannot mean promotion of "separatist" designs.
In view of the high court verdict, the Kalaburagi district administration has imposed Section 144 effective from 8 pm Monday till 6 am on March 19.
The counsel for the petitioners in the hijab ban row on Monday told the Supreme Court the Karnataka high court did an "objectionable" thing when it tried to "interpret" the Holy Quran and held the headscarf worn by Muslim women was not an essential religious practice.
Though the Muslim girl students argued with the authorities saying the chief minister has clarified that uniforms are not mandatory in degree colleges, the authorities said it is the college development committee that fixed the rules.
The principal informed the students that they are not allowed to wear hijab inside the classrooms and asked them to remove the head dress and enter classes.
"Girls are sitting outside classrooms and demanding their fundamental rights. The hijab is a part of their cultural and religious identity of these girls. It is like the mangalsutra for Hindus, crucifix for the Christians and turbans for the Sikhs," Prathapan said during Zero Hour.
The Karnataka unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party allegedly shared the personal details of the girls from Udupi including their residential addresses who had approached the Karnataka high court against the ban on wearing of hijabs in classrooms.
'All parties are engaging in polarisation to strengthen their political vote banks, which is very unfortunate because these are young, impressionable, students.' 'These students are our future.' 'What kind of a society are we banking upon if we are planting such poisonous seeds into their minds?'
The Supreme Court on Friday said it will set up a three-judge bench to hear a plea of Muslim girl students to sit for examinations in Karnataka government schools while wearing hijab.
When turbans are allowed on school and college campuses, or sacred ash on the forehead, can one ban the hijab? asks T N Ninan.
Coming out in support of hijab-wearing Muslim girl students not allowed entry in educational institutes in Karnataka, he said the goddess Saraswati does not differentiate and gives knowledge to all.
The Karnataka high court on February 8 will hear the petitions filed by five girls studying in a Government Pre-University College in Udupi, questioning hijab restriction in college.
