Allahabad HC hijab ruling sparks political debate over school dress codes

The Allahabad High Court’s ruling dismissing a plea for a student to wear a hijab with her school uniform has triggered political debate. BJP leaders backed institutional dress codes, while opposition voices stressed religious freedom and students’ right to practise their faith

New Delhi: A major political controversy erupted after the Allahabad High Court, in a significant judgment, clarified that students cannot insist on altering the dress code prescribed by an educational institution based on their personal preferences. The court dismissed a petition seeking directions to school authorities to permit a student to wear a headscarf along with the uniform prescribed by the institution.

The petition was filed by a minor girl studying at a private school in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj. According to details of the case, the student had completed her high school education and was seeking admission to Class 11 in the same school.

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The court’s decision has triggered a debate over the balance between institutional dress codes and an individual’s right to practise and express their religious beliefs.

While some leaders backed the court’s position, saying that educational institutions have established dress codes, discipline and regulations that students are required to follow, others said that students should not be prevented from following their religious faith within the educational system.

Reacting to the Allahabad High Court’s judgment, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that the issue should not be allowed to become a source of communal tension.

“I think no one should try to create communal controversy or communal tension in the name of hijab. Educational institutions have their own dress codes, discipline and regulations. Everyone should respect that. This is what the Allahabad High Court has also said,” Naqvi added.

Communist Party of India MP, P. Santhosh Kumar, however, said that while uniforms were important as a symbol of equality, students should also be allowed to retain their religious identity and practise their faith.

“Uniform is compulsory, but at the same time, this has been a controversial issue over the years. A student has every right to continue with his or her religious faith. One’s right to believe in and practise the religion or faith of their choice cannot be undermined. So, we need to protect that as well,” Kumar added.

Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) National Spokesperson Vinod Bansal strongly backed the court’s position and said that courts have repeatedly dealt with questions surrounding hijab and burqa. “Not once, but many times, the courts have said regarding the hijab, burqa and all these things that neither are they a part of Islam, nor are they part of Islamic beliefs or the Quran, nor does Indian civilisation and culture say that small, innocent girls should be kept captive by your extremist mindset,” Bansal said.

He also added that schools are meant to teach students values such as equality, unity, integrity and brotherhood and questioned the need to distinguish students on the basis of their religious identity.

“The way young girls go to school where they are taught equality, unity, integrity and brotherhood, why do you want to isolate them there and make them appear different from the other children with their religious identity,” the VHP Spokesperson said.

Bansal also criticised repeated approaches to courts over the issue, claiming that the Judiciary had already delivered several decisions concerning the matter.

Congress leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan took a different view, describing wearing a hijab or covering one’s head as a matter of personal choice and said that head-covering traditions exist across different communities in India.

“This shouldn’t even be a massive debate of topic, yet we continuously observe such subjects being brought up to distract from core issues. The concept of the hijab and modest covering is a personal choice,” Khan said.

“If you look at Indian society traditionally, it is not only Muslim women who wear a hijab, ‘ghoonghat’, or cover their head with an ‘odhni’. This is part of our shared cultural tradition,” the Congress leader added. Khan acknowledged that schools have their own rules but said that students who wish to cover their heads should be permitted to do so.

Senior advocate and BJP leader Nalin Kohli said the Allahabad High Court’s decision appeared to be consistent with various Supreme Court judgments dealing with the question of what constitutes the ‘essential practices’ of a religion. He stressed that students attend schools for education and that institutions that are not established on a religious basis generally have a uniform applicable to all students.

“The important point is that children go to schools that are not run on the basis of religion for education, and there is a uniform,” Kohli said. He also referred to Article 26 of the Constitution, saying that religious minorities have the right to establish and administer their own educational institutions based on their respective religious principles.

Kohli added that families who want their children to study in institutions operating according to particular religious principles have the option of choosing such schools. However, the BJP leader said that students attending institutions that are not religiously affiliated would ordinarily be expected to follow the uniform prescribed by those schools.

“If a family feels that their daughter should study on that basis, such institutions are available, and they can go there to study. But in schools that are not based on religion, education and the uniform will naturally apply,” he added.