Supreme Court stayed till Nov 18 a Mumbai college’s circular banning students from wearing hijab, cap or badge but allowed the educational institution to continue enforcing its circular banning wearing of burqa, niqab or stole in its premises.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar issued notice to the college on a petition jointly filed by three students - Zainab Abdul Qayyum Choudhary, Nasreen Bano Mohd Tanzim Shaikh and Nazneen Mazhar Ansari - appealing against a Bombay HC order upholding the college circular.
It said, “In the meanwhile, we stay clause 2 of the circular to the extent that it directs that no hijab, cap or badge will be permitted.” Clause 2 of the circular reads, “You (students) shall follow the dress code of college of formal and decent dress which shall not reveal anyone’s religion such as ‘no burkha, no niqab, no hijab, no cap, no badge, no stole etc. Only full or half shirt and normal trousers for boys and any Indian/western non-revealing dress for girls on the college campus.
The Justice Khanna-led bench, however, orally clarified that no burqa can be worn by anyone inside the college or classrooms. The interim stay was confined to the ban on wearing hijab, cap or badge.
Appearing for ‘Chembur Trombay Educational Society’, under which the college in question functioned, senior advocate Madhavi Divan said there were 441 Muslim women students pursuing various courses in the college and none of them, except the three petitioners, had any objection to the circular.
She apprehended that allowing hijab, which is a barrier to female students getting educated and interacting with others, inside an education institution would be exploited by vested groups. “How will we stop anyone from wearing saffron shawls to the college?” she asked.
Justice Khanna asked, “Will you stop a student wearing tilak from entering the college?” Going a step further, Justice Kumar asked, “Will you stop a student’s entry if she wears a bindi? Should it not be left to the girl to decide what she wants to wear? Where is your initiative to empower women by providing for no dress code? The less said the better.” The bench, while keeping its interim order in force till Nov 18, took note of Divan’s apprehensions about the interim order being exploited by vested elements and said, “If the interim order is misused, the college will be at liberty to move the SC for appropriate orders.”
