"Our Religion, We Decide": Asaduddin Owaisi Slams Court Ruling On Hijab

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi has slammed the Allahabad High Court ruling that rejected a Muslim girl's petition seeking to wear a headscarf at school.

Calling the ruling an "attack on Islam", Owaisi said it is not for judges to decide what is essential to Islam and what is not.

"It is our religion and we will decide what is essential. Who are the judges to decide? This is an attack on our religion," Owaisi said.

In a significant ruling on August 21, the Allahabad High Court clarified that no student has a right to alter the dress code prescribed by an educational institution according to personal preferences. The court dismissed the petition filed by a student seeking direction to school authorities to permit the petitioner to wear a headscarf in addition to the uniform prescribed by the school.

The petition was filed by a minor girl, a student of a private school in Prayagraj. The girl has passed high school and seeks admission to Class XI in the same institution.

#BREAKING | AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi backs student's Hijab plea, calls High Court verdict wrong

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A two-judge bench comprising Justices JJ Munir and Indrajit Shukla rejected the argument that wearing a headscarf is an essential Islamic practice.

Read | "Hijab Not Essential To Islam": High Court Rejects UP Student's Petition

"Wherever this issue has arisen, the high courts have been unanimous in opinion that wearing a headscarf is not an essential part of the Islamic faith for a woman to don, in the absence of which faith would be jeopardised," the court ruled.

Owaisi said the Supreme Court is already hearing the matter of essential religious practices in relation to Sabarimala. "When the Supreme Court is already seized of the matter, the Allahabad judges should not have ruled on the matter," he said.

"The Allahabad High Court order is against Articles 19 and 25 of the Constitution," he added.

Supporting the girl's demand to be allowed to wear a headscarf as a matter of choice and privacy, Owaisi said, "She is wearing hijab on her head, not on her mind".

He further stated that the ruling will hamper girls' education. "In UP, enrolment of Muslim girls in secondary schools is the lowest. They want to stop education of Muslim girls."

The court had further stated that as long as a school's uniform code is fair, non-discriminatory, and implemented to maintain institutional discipline and equality, the institution retains full autonomy to enforce its internal discipline and dress code.

Disagreeing with the ruling, Owaisi said: "Uniformity is not equality."