Introduction:
“Neither love nor terror makes one blind, it is the indifference that does” – James Baldwin
Seldom, do we understand the number of indifferences that we come across as Indians in our daily routine and sometimes these indifferences are the root cause for all the problems that we come across, so why do we have these indifferences? An unornamented answer to this question is that our nation is rich in diversity and more often the lack of understanding of each other’s religion leaves us a baffling nation. Though diverse we are governed by a common and neutral living document, which is the law of the land (i.e., The Constitution of India) which is meant to treat every individual equally in an unbiased manner. But moreover, though we are enshrined with our fundamental rights to protect us and help us grow as individuals and as a society, it is used as weapons to bring down each other within the society because of their cultural and communal differences. The major question that arises is did we spend 2 years, 11 months, and 18 days creating a document that could be used to bring down people within the society itself? Seeking an answer let’s endeavour into the recently concluded Hijab Ban Verdict.
Facts of the Case:
The Karnataka High Court had banned the wearing of Hijab by Muslim girls in Udupi the Karnataka University; this was appealed in the apex court of India because according to the petitioners, Muslim girls were being violated of their right to expression, right to education and their right to equality by the law when they were not being allowed to enter or attend educational institutions under the governance of the respondent; and the Supreme Court of India who heard the arguments from both the sides for ten long days, on the conclusion of the arguments put fairly by both the sides the Supreme Court pronounced a split verdict of 1:1 and referred the case to the Chief Justice of India for further proceedings.
Issues that were in question:
1.) Whether wearing a hijab by Muslim Girls has been a customary following in their religion?
2.) If yes, whether they should be allowed to wear Hijab to educational institutions?
3.) Does this violate their right to education under Article 21 (A), freedom of expression under Article 19 (1) (a) and right to equality before the law under Article (15)?
Major arguments that were put forth:
1.) By the petitioner: Hijab is a vital piece of clothing in Islamic customs which is necessary for every female to wear, thus, banning this piece of clothing would restrict the females of Islam to continue their education due to restrictions; and thereby this ban is not only a ban of clothing but also a violation of the Fundamental Rights of these Muslim women who are significantly restricted.
– Fundamental Rights that are violated:
[i] Article 15: Right to Equality
[ii] Article 19 (i) (a): Freedom of Expression
[iii] Article 21 A: Right to education
2.) By the respondent: Educational Institutions are a culture-neutral ground and thereby it is not a good idea to mix culture with education. This allowance would create a sense of partition between the hijab-wearing students and the non-hijab-wearing students and thereby putting the entire sense of education to waste.
Judgement Passed by Supreme Court:
The Supreme Court of India passed a spilt judgement in the form of 1:1; where Justice Hemant Gupta dismissed the appeal of the petitioners against the Karnataka High Court while Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia allowed the appeal under the purview that he believed the Karnataka HC had taken the wrong path to decide the case and it is the ultimate choice of what the women want to wear, the university or the court has no grounds to ban hijab in the educational institutions especially in rural areas because they should set their main focus on education of the children. Due to this split judgment, the case has not been set aside to receive further directions from the Chief Justice of India.
Analysis of the verdict:
The ban on hijab in educational institutions is a clear violation of their right to freedom of expression because an educational institutional institution that is especially located in a rural region of our country should solely focus on providing good quality education to the children of that area, irrespective of what they wear. “Education is neutral” does not provide a sufficient basis for the fact that wearing hijabs should be banned in institutions, because on the other hand educational institutions tend to celebrate “traditional days” which directly contradicts the purpose of it being neutral because on this day it allows students to dress up according to their culture.
Apart from this, educational institutions have widely seen to be practising “Traditional and Cultural Festivals and Events” at a competitive level which provides the basis for the question to arise, “What happened to education being free of culture?”. Rightly mentioned by Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, a woman should be given the freedom to wear and express the way she feels, how long are we going to keep them under the clutches of patriarchy?
Education does not promote cultural differences and is a sham because the education of cultural differences is exactly what a nation of high diversity requires at this moment along with teaching the students how to respect their elders we should also be open to teaching them how to respect one and others religion, it is important for them to understand at that tender age that not everyone is coming from the same background and there are always going to be differences in beliefs and cultures.
Educational Institutions are said to be a child’s second home, this is because of the way children are nurtured in these places but what is the point of an institution that prohibits a student from entering its enriching premises only because she is not wearing the right clothes? How is it education if the educators themselves are bound to demean students based on what they wear? On one hand, we are the ones who are running campaigns for “educating the girl child” and run slogans like “Beti Bachao, Beti padhao” and on the other hand, we are restricting them from coming to receive an education.
Is it the religion or is it the gender that is clogging our judgement towards the crux of the matter?
Taking an instance from the USA, schools allow girls to wear hijabs and receive their education provided there is a letter supporting the fact that they are supposed to be wearing one, why can’t we have a system that follows the same level of formality in our nation? Similarly, it is said that the US believe that banning the hijab in schools violates their right to follow their religion, though the US are not as diverse as we claim ourselves to be.
Conclusion:
It is alarming to see the way we tend to treat women in our society, it is important that if we speak about equality, we need to act according to the way we speak. As per our current situation, it could be said that “Male India” got its independence in 1947 while “Female India” is still struggling for that independence. More often we forget to understand that if a woman is capable to bring a human to life based on her judgement, she is very much capable of judging the difference between right and wrong.
Banning hijab from school should not be done because given our diversity we need to understand and respect all the religions and cultures that are present in our society. Secondly, lack of education for women due to this kind of restriction is the sole cause of the crimes that happen and women are the victim in 95% of these crimes. If a Sikh is allowed to wear a turban to school, then even a Muslim girl should be allowed to wear a hijab to school because despite our differences in the culture we need to learn how to live harmoniously and once we learn this, we can successfully claim ourselves to be a diverse nation that promotes equality.
The verdict is biased because at one point we believe that educational institutions are free of culture and neutral and at the very instance of it we are promoting cultural activities, traditional days and so much so allowing our Sikh brothers to wear turbans while restricting our Muslim sisters from following their religion and culture.