A keenly awaited order from Karnataka High Court has put at rest what was sought to be turned into a big issue, namely the “right” or otherwise of Muslim girls to wear hijab in educational institutions. It is understandable that the matter went to court rather than the religious faithful and their leaders filling the streets and engaging in violence. Court is here to adjudicate in such matters and its word should be final even as this presupposes that judges conduct themselves in a sane and impartial manner. If they do so, that will raise the prestige of India’s judicial system and of the nation in the eyes of the world too.
In its extensive judgement, a three-member bench involving the chief justice and a Muslim judge among them has rejected a petition on behalf of nine Muslim schoolgirls from Udupi and ruled that students must abide by the prescription of uniform set by their institutions, be it school or college as discipline demands as much. It has also made it clear that hijab is not an essential religious practice and the ban on it by an institution cannot be revoked. The court quoted extensively from Islamic religious texts, the views expressed by judicial courts here and in the West as also provisions of the Indian Constitution to back up its final order. Expectations are that the matter will rest there and life will carry on smoothly. Muslim leadership has always respected court orders or had challenged them in higher courts. It has accepted the final arbitration by the Supreme Court in the vexed and long-standing Ayodhya case. India famously accords freedom to all religions to practise their faith and the Constitution guarantees as much. Hinduism, not Hindutva, is a tolerant creed and brotherly relations with other communities are a given. No other religion is as open-minded as Hinduism is, to which the aberrations were the utterances and activities of some hard-line entities. They are also under control now, thanks also to the cautious steps by the Modi-led NDA government.
Situations like riots of the past are rare now. Yet, the 2020 Delhi riots during the anti-CAA agitation by some Muslim organisations had resulted in violence. There were positives to the CAA or to the NRC inasmuch that no nation can allow unbridled infiltration of outsiders, be they Bangladeshis or others. Good sense must prevail on the leadership of minority communities as co-existence is a matter of first priority for them as well, just as this is essential for the growth and well-being of the society.
