The petitioner Muslim girl students in their pleadings have not placed any material to establish their claim that wearing of hijab is an “essential religious practice” protected under the right of freedom to religion in the Constitution, Advocate-General Prabhuling K. Navadgi argued before the High Court of Karnataka on Monday.
The petitioners would have to first prove that wearing of hijab was a “religious practice”, then they had to establish that it was an “essential practice”, then they must show that this “essential religions practice” did not come in conflict with public order, morality, and health as per Article 25 of the Constitution, and with any other fundamental rights, Mr. Navadgi argued before a three-judge Bench, comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justices Krishna S. Dixit and Jaibunnisa M. Khazi.
