The Allahabad High Court has ruled that a student cannot claim the right to alter a school’s prescribed dress code to suit personal preference, dismissing a plea by a Muslim girl seeking permission to wear a hijab (headscarf) with her uniform.
A bench of Justices JJ Munir and Indrajit Shukla passed the order on August 21, rejecting the petition filed by a minor student of Tagore Public School in Attarsuiya, Prayagraj, reported LiveLaw. The petitioner, identified as Sukaina Rizvi, had completed Class X at the school and sought admission to Class XI there.
The girl moved the court through her mother, asking that authorities be directed to let her wear a headscarf in addition to the uniform prescribed for all students. She said she had worn the hijab from Class VI to Class X without any objection from the school and argued that the practice was an essential part of her Islamic faith.
The bench was not convinced. Examining photographs from the petitioner’s earlier classes, the judges noted that she was the only student seen wearing a headscarf, including among others from her own religious community.
The court also rejected the claim that the hijab is an essential religious practice. “Wherever this issue has arisen, the high courts have been unanimous in opinion that wearing a headscarf is not an essential part of the Islamic faith for a woman to don in the absence of which faith would be jeopardised,” the bench observed.
According to the ruling, any unaided private educational institution has full authority to enforce a uniform dress code, provided it is fair, non-discriminatory and aimed at maintaining discipline and equality. The court said allowing individual students to modify the uniform on personal grounds would defeat its purpose and shift control over school discipline from the institution to the students themselves.
The school, a private, self-financed institution, told the court that granting an exemption to one student could undermine discipline and uniformity among its diverse student body. The Uttar Pradesh government and the CBSE also opposed the petition.
The Allahabad HC order draws on a Karnataka High Court full bench ruling on the same question, which was later split on appeal by a two-judge Supreme Court bench in the Aishat Shifa case, leaving no final pronouncement from India’s top court on the issue.
Congress, SP, JDU divided on hijab judgement
Congress spokesperson Surendra Rajput on Tuesday, August 25, said that while religious freedom must be respected, students should also follow the dress-code rules prescribed by educational institutions, reacting to the Allahabad High Court ruling on wearing a hijab with a school uniform.
Rajput stressed the importance of following the dress-code rules laid down by individual educational institutions.
“There is one law across the country, and everyone is allowed to practice religious harmony. However, the school uniform is governed by the rules of the school administration. So, the rules of the school administration should not be violated, so that all students maintain uniformity…”, Rajput told IANS.
Janata Dal (United) National General Secretary Shyam Rajak said courts should take people’s religious, social and educational freedoms into consideration while passing orders.
Rajak said political leaders should not comment on judicial orders but emphasised the need for courts to consider broader issues affecting people.
“Regarding the order passed by the Hon’ble Judge of the Allahabad High Court, we cannot comment on a court order. However, it would be appropriate if such orders are passed while taking into consideration people’s religious, social, and educational freedoms. Today, whether it is the Supreme Court, High Courts, or lower courts, crores of cases are pending everywhere. People come and go, and some even die, but they do not get justice on time. I am not alleging anything against them, but my point is that the Hon’ble courts and judges should consider the people who have been suffering for years and focus on disposing of cases as quickly as possible. Creating a different kind of atmosphere by giving higher priority to only certain issues does not seem right…” Rajak said.
Samajwadi Party spokesperson Ashutosh Verma, reacting to the same ruling, said his party would abide by whatever decision is eventually taken by the Supreme Court. He also questioned why a student should not be allowed to wear a hijab along with the prescribed school uniform if it is worn as part of her faith.
“There are two things. We will abide by whatever the Hon’ble Supreme Court says. But what is the problem with wearing a hijab along with a school uniform? If a person wears a hijab as part of their faith, there should be no problem with it…” Verma said.
The reactions came after the Allahabad High Court, in a significant ruling, clarified that a student does not have a right to alter the dress code prescribed by an educational institution according to personal preferences.
The court dismissed a petition seeking directions to school authorities to allow a student to wear a headscarf in addition to the uniform prescribed by the institution.
The petition was filed by a minor girl studying at a private school in Prayagraj. According to the case details, the student had completed her high school education and was seeking admission to Class 11 in the same institution.
Clerics weigh in on issue
Reacting to the court’s verdict, All India Muslim Jamaat President Maulana Mufti Shahabuddin Razvi Bareilvi said that the school’s uniform code and hijab are separate matters and should not be viewed together. “I would request the lawyer and the judges to please refer to the Quran and Hadith (and other religious texts), from which they will get to know about the Islamic practices,” he added.
Islamic Centre of India Chairman Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahli said, “We believe that the court’s decision regarding hijab needs to be reviewed and reconsidered…a scarf or hijab should be allowed along with the uniform…People of other faiths also wear certain things according to their religion, which no one has a problem with.”
Accepting that schools have a prescribed uniform and students ought to wear it, the President of the Shia Markazi Chand Committee, Maulana Saif Abbas Naqvi, said, “If a girl seeks permission to wear a hijab—or a headscarf—I believe that permission should be granted. However, a crucial point to consider is the Allahabad High Court’s observation that the hijab is not an essential part of Islam. According to the Quran, the hijab is compulsory in Islam. Yet, if 10–25 per cent of women do not wear the hijab, we cannot cast them out of the fold of Islam.”
