The Supreme Court on Thursday listed the hearing for Friday, August 9, for the plea challenged by Mumbai's Acharya Marathe College in Chembur against the Bombay High Court (HC) ruling upholding the prohibition on wearing hijab, naqab and burqa inside the college campus.
"A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took note of the submissions of a lawyer that the term exam is commencing from today and the students, belonging from a minority community, are bound to face difficulties due the instructions on dress code. Lawyer Abiha Zaidi, appearing for petitioners, including Zainab Abdul Qayyum, sought urgent hearing saying the unit tests in the college are commencing," reported PTI.
Three of the nine students who had moved HC against the college's diktat against religious attire filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) at the apex court. The plea objects to the HC's view that the college's 'dress code' is aimed at discouraging discrimination. The petitioners have also faulted the court for accepting the college's assertion that it has a right to impose restrictions on students' dresses without citing any relevant law or rules.
In their plea before SC, the students argued that even though the college's dress code appears neutral, it primarily affects Muslim women.
The college caused controversy in May after it introduced a 'dress code' for all undergraduate students, requiring them to only wear 'formal' and 'decent' clothes, while specifically forbidding religious attire including hijab, naqab and burqa - the customary coverings worn by Muslim women. The instructions were challenged in the court by nine female students, who believed that the decision was discriminatory and infringed on their religious and personal freedoms.
However, after a favourable order from the court on June 26, the college started evicting from classrooms not only those donning religious attire but also the other students who wore jeans and t-shirts, clothing deemed violative of its sartorial rules. This led to many of the students leaving the college for other institutes.
