The Bombay High Court today dismissed a plea filed by 9 female students which challenged the dress code prescribed by the authorities of NG Acharya and DK Marathe College of Art, Science and Commerce, Mumbai prohibiting students from "wearing hijab, nakab, burkha, stole, cap, etc., on campus."
The plea claimed that the new dress code was violative of the petitioners fundamental rights to privacy, dignity, and religious freedom. The Court stated that it was not inclined to interfere in the matter, while providing reasons.
Brief facts of the case:
The petitioners are students of NG Acharya and DK Marathe College of Art, Science and Commerce studying in the B.Sc and B.Sc (Computer Science) programs. Their college had recently issued a notice titled "Instruction for Student" on its website and circulated messages through WhatsApp mandating a dress code that explicitly "forbids the wearing of burkha, niqab, hijab, caps, badges, and stoles."
The 9 female petitioners have stated that they have been wearing the niqab and hijab for many years within and outside their college. The reported argument put forward was that these instructions are "illegal", "arbitrary, and unreasonable" and infringe upon their fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.
The college authorities on their part had submitted that the reason for imposing this restriction was to avoid the display of religious symbols, except for those considered part of the fundamental right to religion, like turbans for Sikhs. They represented that the ban applies to all religious symbols and is not targeted at Muslims.
Various supporting arguments were put forward by both parties. Upon completion of the hearing, the division bench comprising of Justice AS Chandurkar and Justice Rajesh Patil dismissed the petition with relevant reasons which will be reported once the order is made public. This judgement follows from the controversy in Karnataka and the split verdict of the Supreme Court in 2022.
