Hijab row: K'taka HC says unseen hands at work to engineer social unrest and disharmony

The judges observed that all was well with the dress code since 2004

The High Court expressed dismay at the sudden eruption of the controversy over hijab in the middle of the academic term from temple town Udupi.

The way the controversy unfolded gives scope for the argument that some ‘unseen hands’ are at work to engineer social unrest and disharmony, the court observed.

The full bench also comprising Justice Krishna S Dixit and Justice J M Khazi dismissed a batch of petitions filed by a few Muslim girl students from Udupi Government Pre-University Girls' College who sought permission that they be allowed to attend classes wearing hijab.

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Relying on the submissions made on behalf of the Government PU College at Udupi and the material placed on record, the bench said all was well with the dress code since 2004.
“We are also impressed that even Muslims participate in the festivals that are celebrated in the ‘ashta mutt sampradāya,’ (Udupi being the place where eight Mutts are situated). We are dismayed as to how all of a sudden that too in the middle of the academic term the issue of hijab is generated and blown out of proportion by the powers that be,” the court said.

During the course of the hearing, the full bench had asked the state government to place information about the Campus Front of India, an organisation which allegedly interfered in the incident involving six students at Government PU College for Girls in Udupi.

The government had submitted the details of investigation pursuant to an FIR registered based on a complaint by one of the lecturers of Udupi College in a sealed cover.

The order said, “The way, hijab imbroglio unfolded gives scope for the argument that some ‘unseen hands’ are at work to engineer social unrest and disharmony. Much is not necessary to specify. We are not commenting on the ongoing police investigation lest it should be affected. We have perused and returned copies of the police papers that were furnished to us in a sealed cover. We expect a speedy and effective investigation into the matter and culprits being brought to book, brooking no delay.”

The bench also dismissed the PIL seeking investigation by the CBI and the NIA into the involvement of radical Islamic organisations and their funding by some foreign universities to Islamise India.

“There are other incoherent prayers. This petitioner opposes the case of students who desire to wear Hijab. Most of the contentions taken up in these petitions are broadly treated in the companion Writ Petitions. We are not inclined to entertain these two Writ Petitions filed in PIL jurisdiction, both on the ground of their maintainability and merits,” the court said in the order.

(With PTI inputs)

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