New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday delivered a split verdict on the ban on wearing hijab in Karnataka’s educational institutions, referring the matter to the Chief Justice of India for constituting a larger bench.
Following the verdict, Karnataka government said High Court’s order upholding the ban in the state will continue as the final Supreme Court decision remains pending.
One of the judges, Justice Hemant Gupta, dismissed the appeals against the Karnataka High Court Court, which refused to lift the ban and held that the hijab is not part of the “essential religious practice” in Islamic faith. Meanwhile, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia allowed the pleas and said wearing the hijab is ultimately a “matter of choice”.
“There is divergence of opinion,” Justice Gupta, who was heading the bench, said at the outset while pronouncing the verdict on a batch of 26 petitions.
He said he had framed 11 questions in his judgement.
In view of the split verdict, the bench directed that the appeals against the high court verdict be placed before the CJI for constituting an appropriate larger bench.
Here is the full text of the judgement: