The Chairperson of the National Commission for Women welcomed the Karnataka High Court's decision to dismiss various petitions challenging a ban on Hijab in education institutions.
NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma said, "I welcome this decision of the Karnataka High Court because as the Court said, it is firstly not a religious practice according to the Quran. Secondly, when a student enters of class, an institute, they must follow the rules and regulations of the institute."
"Though I'm a speaker or you can say I'm a supporter of women's rights, I always say women can wear anything and everywhere but in the institute when there is a code, either they have a uniform code or they don't have one. If they have, then they must follow because the uniform is for the uniformity of the institutes. They must follow that and students should not be divided into religions, caste, creed, and that's why the uniform is there. All the students must follow whether Hindus or Muslims," she added.
Earlier in the day, the Karnataka High Court dismissed various petitions challenging a ban on Hijab in education institutions and said that wearing Hijab is not an essential religious practice of Islam.
Sharma said a uniform in any institute means that everybody is equal. "No one should be divided into any class, caste or religion. Uniform is there so that one cannot show who belongs from which religion and everybody is equal."
"So I welcome the decision of the High Court, and I hope that now students will go back to the classes because education should not suffer. Students should not suffer."
Speaking about the delay in studies, Sharma said, "Muslim girls can wear hijab, that's not a problem. Anybody can wear it. Even I've seen some Hindu girls wearing that. So that is not a problem. But when the institute is having a dress code, they must follow and I will say all the students whether Hindu, Muslim, Christians or Sikhs, should go back to the classes without delay because already they have missed many classes and time. This is an important time in their life and they should not waste it on these issues."
( With inputs from ANI )
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