Matter is pending, students should not wear any religious garments: High Court

India: The Karnataka Court today said the matter will be heard again on Monday. The High Court said that till the matter is pending, students should not wear any religious garments. A three-judge bench of the Court, headed by the Chief Justice of the state, heard a case to decide if schools and colleges can order students to not wear the hijab in classrooms.

The High Court on Wednesday referred the case to a larger bench in view of “the enormity of questions of importance which were debated”.

“These matters give rise to certain constitutional questions of seminal importance in view of certain aspects of personal law,” the judge hearing the case had said while referring it to a panel of judges to be led by the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court Ritu Raj Awasthi.

The case had been filed by a group of Muslim girls studying in government colleges in the Udupi district against a ban on wearing hijabs in classrooms.

Muslim girls at a government school in the state were recently denied entry into the classroom for wearing headscarves, which authorities claim is not allowed. These women have been protesting against the move, saying they should not be denied an education for their choice of clothes.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai appealed for calm after announcing all high schools in the state would be closed for three days.