Bangalore. Muslim girl students, who moved the Karnataka High Court against the ban on hijab, on Tuesday argued that India’s principle of secularism is “positive” in contrast to Turkey’s and wearing a scarf is a sign of faith and not a display of religious bigotry. He argued before a three-judge bench that secularism in India is not like ‘Turkish secularism’, but here it is secularism positive, with all religions recognized as true.
The girl students also requested the full bench of the High Court to allow girl students to attend classes wearing hijab. He said the court has suspended his “fundamental rights” through its interim order. Senior advocate Devdutt Kamat, appearing for Muslim girl students of Udupi Pre-University College, said the practice of depriving someone of their rights on the ground of dislike is not correct. In this context, he reminded the court that it had secularism in mind when it passed the interim order.
Explaining secularism, Kamat argued, “Our secularism is not the same as Turkish secularism. Our secularism is positive, where we believe all religions to be true.”
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Referring to Article 25 of the Indian Constitution before the bench, he said that this article talks of ‘freedom of conscience’. Kamat told the full bench of the High Court, “There is a lot of depth in the word (freedom of conscience). The essence of Article 25 is that it protects faith and not religious identity or display of bigotry.” The bench comprising Chief Justice Rituraj Awasthi, Justice JM Khaji and Justice Krishna M Dixit, hearing the matter related to the hijab controversy.
Article 25 of the Constitution deals with the freedom of conscience and the freedom to profess, practice and propagate religion freely. Muslim girls have challenged the Karnataka government’s February 5 order banning students from wearing clothes that can disturb peace, harmony and law and order.
According to the lawyer, wearing a Rudraksha or applying Nama (tilak or vermilion on the forehead) is the same kind of faith. Under this people feel protected by the divine and connected with God. He said, “To counter that (hijab), if someone wears a shawl (saffron shawl), they have to show whether it is just a display of religious identity or is it something else. Is it approved by Hinduism by our Vedas, Upanishads. (agency)