HC refuses to interfere in hijab ban decision of Mumbai college

Bombay High Court dismisses petition by students challenging ban on hijab, burka, and naqab in college premises.

The Bombay High Court on June 26 dismissed the petition filed by nine women students from a city-based college to impose a ban on hijab, burka and naqab in its premises.

A division bench of Justices A.S. Chandurkar and Rajesh Patil said it was not inclined to interfere in the decision taken by the college and dismissed a petition filed against it by nine girl students, who are in the second and third year of a science degree course.

The students from Mumbai’s N.G. Acharya and D.K. Marathe College challenged a recent notification on the ban of certain dress codes that prohibit students from wearing hijab, nakab, burkha, stole, cap, etc., on campus.

The students approached the High Court on June 14. In their plea, the students claimed that the new dress code violates their fundamental rights to privacy, dignity and religious freedom to choose what to wear.

The plea termed the college action as “arbitrary, unreasonable, bad-in-law and perverse”.

The college had claimed the decision to ban hijab, naqab and burka in its premises was merely a disciplinary action for the uniform dress code and was not against the Muslim community.

This comes on the heels of the Supreme Court delivering a split verdict in the Karnataka hijab ban case in October, 2022.