Hijab Ban- Karnataka High Court Full Bench Hearing (Day 8)- LIVE UPDATES

AG: There was an argument on Article 15. There is no discrimination on grounds of religion. These are bald allegations without any substance and we deny them.

AG: A right cannot be exercised in islotation in public spaces. Institutional discipline is paramount.

In military service somebody had sought enforcement of individual rights. This was for growing of a beard. The court negatived.

AG refers to privacy judgment: "The notion that there must exist a reasonable expectation of privacy ensures that while on one hand, individual has a protected zone of privacy, yet on the other, exercise of individual choices is subject to rights of others to lead orderly lives"

AG: I will repeat. There is no prohibition of hijab anywhere. But it cannot be compulsory, it should be left to the choice of the women concerned.

AG : Dignity involves liberty; liberty involves choice. The entire submission of petitioners is based on compulsion.The entire claim of petition is to make compulsion, it goes against fundamental ethos of constitution.

...the fundamental duties of every citizen.We cannot adopt an interpretation of the Constitution which has such an effect. Our inability to state this as a matter of constitutional doctrine is liable to lead us to positions of pretence or, worse still, hypocrisy"

AG continues quoting J Chandrachud from Sabarimala judgment :

"To treat women as children of a lesser god is to blink at the Constitution itself....To allow practices derogatory to the dignity of a woman in matters of faith & worship would permit a conscious breach of

"...India’s unwavering commitment to a constitutional order based on human. Practices which are destructive of liberty & those which make some citizens less equal than others can simply not be countenanced"

AG refers to a paragraph from J Chandrachud's judgment in Sabarimala case:

"Once individual dignity assumes the character of a shining star in the constellation of fundamental rights, the place of religion in public places must be conditioned by

AG : Kindly keep my submission that woman cannot be subjected to a compulsion of a dress in the context of their submissions.