Supreme Court will hear pleas against the Karnataka High Court's hijab ban order today.

The Supreme Court will be hearing pleas against the Karnataka High Court’s ban on wearing hijabs in schools today, August 29, 2022. The Karnataka High Court passed the order for the hijab ban in educational institutes on March 15, 2022. 

According to reports, a bench made up of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Hemant Gupta will hear the petitions filed in opposition to the order banning the hijab today, August 29, 2022. The bench will be hearing 23 petitions against the high court’s order to ban the hijabs for female Muslim students.

On March 15, the Karnataka high court ruled that wearing a hijab is not mandatory in Islam. It upheld the state government’s executive order from February 5 banning the headscarf in schools and colleges, which sparked widespread demonstrations and counter demonstrations throughout the state and in several other Indian cities.

The High Court of India’s three-judge bench ruled that the Quran does not mandate the wearing of hijab for Muslim women, but merely “a means to gain access to public places.” The judges also noted that the attire is a measure of social security but not a religious end in itself.

In a decision issued on March 15, the Supreme Court also called for a speedy and effective investigation into the stoking of the controversy surrounding women wearing the hijab in Karnataka. The court suspected that “unseen hands” were at work to engineer social unrest and disharmony in the state.