If you say right to dress is fundamental right then right to undress also becomes fundamental right: SC to petitioner

The Supreme Court on September 7 continued hearing the batch of petitions challenging the Karnataka High Court’s judgment which upheld the ban on wearing of Hijab by Muslim girl students in some schools and colleges in the state. The matter was heard by the bench comprising Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia, according to LiveLaw.

Justice Hemant Gupta asked a lawyer arguing for the right to wear the hijab in education institutes: “You can’t take it to illogical ends. Right to dress will include the right to undress also?”

The lawyer, Dev Datt Kamat, replied, “Nobody is undressing in a school.”

This was part of a longer exchange between the court and the lawyer, during which Justice Gupta also remarked: “Problem here is that one particular community is insisting on a headscarf (hijab) while all other communities are following the dress code. Students of other communities are not saying we want to wear this and that.”

Justice Gupta asked the advocate Kamat whether the right to dress as a facet of Article 19 can be stretched to illogical ends. This was after Kamat cited the 2014 NALSA judgment of the Supreme Court to contend that the right to dress is recognised as a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(a), according to Bar and Bench.

“Wearing this additional dress (hijab), can it be restricted on the basis of Article 19,” asked Kamat.

He maintained that hijab does not create any public order issue and does not go against any morality.

“No one is forcing her to wear it, but if the girl chooses to wear it can the State prohibit this,” Kamat asked.

“No one is prohibiting her to wear the hijab… but only in school,” Justice Gupta said.

The hearing will resume at 11.30 am tomorrow.

The top court had last week issued notice to the State of Karnataka in a batch of appeals challenging a Karnataka High Court verdict that effectively upheld the ban on wearing hijab in government schools and colleges. – INDIA NEWS STREAM