Petitions challenging the Karnataka hijab ban led to a split verdict in the Supreme Court today. Justice Hemant Gupta dismissed the petitions against the hijab ban, while Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia allowed them.
New Delhi, Oct. 13 (PTI): The Supreme Court on Thursday delivered a split verdict on the ban on hijabs in Karnataka’s educational institutions and referred the matter to the chief justice of India for constituting a larger bench. While Justice Hemant Gupta dismissed the appeals against the March 15 verdict of the Karnataka High Court that had refused to lift the ban and held that hijab is not part of “essential religious practice” in Islamic faith, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia allowed the pleas and observed that it is ultimately a “matter of choice”. “There is divergence of opinion,” Justice Gupta, who was heading the bench, said at the outset while pronouncing the verdict on a batch of 26 petitions. He said he has framed 11 questions in his verdict and answers to them are against the appellants. The list includes questions on the ambit and scope of the right of freedom of conscience and religion under Article 25 and the right to essential religiou
A constitutional court must speak in "one voice" as far as possible and split verdicts do not resolve a dispute, Supreme Court judge Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia said on Thursday.