A day after the Supreme Court's (SC) partial stay on the hijab ban at Chembur's Acharya Marathe College, the female students who had stopped going to the college returned to the campus on Saturday.
Even as many students and even teachers at the institute remained unaware of the top court's interim order, the observant Muslim students who were forced to comply with the college's diktat wore hijabs (headscarves) in the classrooms and laboratories. The college, however, continued to prohibit the niqab and burqa, the face covering and full-body veil respectively, in keeping with the SC's decision.
While relieved to have been allowed their customary attire, the students felt that they were under the watchful eyes of the college staff. In one instance, the college principal Vidyagauri Lele even sought to inspect the students' coverings.
“During her lecture in our class, the principal came to us and checked our hijab and dupatta (shawl). She asked one of my classmates to stand and remarked 'Is hijab supposed to be this long?'” said the student, adding, “Why can't she just focus on her teaching responsibilities.”
Another student was stopped from entering the laboratory by the teachers who were in the dark about the SC's decision. She was let in after another teacher informed them about it. “We felt normal in the college after so many days,” said the student.
The apex court on Friday had partially stayed the college's dress code directive, which required learners to wear 'formal and decent' clothing and prohibited religious markers, specifically hijab, niqab, burqa, stole, cap and badge. While the bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar put a stay on the prohibition on wearing hijab (headscarf), badge and cap, it allowed the institute to continue restricting niqab, burqa and stoles in classrooms.
The court was hearing a plea by three female Muslim students of the college challenging the Bombay High Court's (HC) upholding the college's new 'dress code'. The bench had said that woman students must have freedom of choice in what they are wearing and college cannot force them. The bench had also remarked why the college did not ban 'tilak' and 'bindi' if it intended the religious faiths of the students to not be revealed and asked if the students' names did not reveal their religious identity.
