New Delhi, Sep 6 : A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court claiming the non-essentiality of hijab for women in Islam and seeks to prove the legitimacy of the Karnataka High Court judgment, which confirmed the right of educational institutions to prohibit the covering of heads in the pre-university colleges in the state.The intervention plea was submitted by Syed Habeeb-ur-Rehman, a former officer of the Indian Armed Forces and then serving with the ITC for the past 37 years before being appointed to the Board of Directors.
Rehman represented by lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai, said he has always criticized “gross and perverse interpretations” of the holy book and it is in this context that he is seeking to present his years of knowledge, experience and a more practical comprehension of Islam and the fundamental Islamic practices enumerated in the Quran in connection with the Constitution.
In an attempt to intervene in the issue, he said: “The applicant is a progressive and secular Muslim adhering to the spirit of Islam who wants to draw the attention of this court that in his 80 years of life, he did not see his grand-aunts, grandmothers, mothers or sisters who all adhered to the spirit of Islam even wearing the headscarf on their head.”
Rehman said he is seeking to help the apex court with an accurate theological understanding of the holy book in order to eliminate the myth that it is a mandatory requirement of wear of hijab.
“Rather the notion that Muslim women are required to wear hijab, is the result of insensitive and radicalised individuals who are promoting an extremely retrograde and backward misconception of the holy text by claiming that wearing of hijab for women to be a fundamental ritual of their religion,” the plea stated.
The plea claimed that from an Koranic perspective, it’s evident that women were not required to wear hijab.Rather, the directive was for people of the religion to keep a distance from wives of the Prophet while engaging with them.
It was added that since the Koranic text clarifies the wearing of the hijab or headscarf is not a requirement or an essential element of the Islamic religion, the appellants are not entitled to claim the existence of a directive in the sense of creating a sense of student belonging based on the premise that it violates Muslim students’ right to religious freedom.
“The Government Order 5 February 2022, does not restrict Muslim students from wearing hijabs in both private and public spaces.
It only restricts the wearing of it within the institution’s premises, where students gather for a common as well as secular pursuit of education,” said the plea.
The court of supreme appeals will be hearing a number of petitions challenging the Karnataka High Court judgment, which confirmed the right of educational institutions to prohibit the wearing of hijab in pre-university schools in the state on Wednesday.
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