Hijab Ban- Karnataka High Court Full Bench Hearing (Day 9)- LIVE UPDATES

Poovayya: Equality in education, it does not matter whether you are a Hindu or kodava, Christian or Muslim-Shia or Sunni. The dress is uniform. When I prescribe a uniform as an institution, religion is immaterial to me.

Poovayya : It is a duty as a school to ensure that a minor girl is not shackled to a practice. The decision whether to wear a Hijab is on them when they attain majority. I have a duty to ensure that I achieve secularism.

CJ: We want to know whether petitioners are only studying in all girls school/college?

Poovayya: Mine is an all girls school and till December they did not insist on wearing hijab.

Justice J M Khazi: Is this a all girls school or co-ed?

Poovayya: I am an all girls school. When they came to school, within the precincts of the school they wore only the uniforms.

Poovayya says the preamble of the Karnataka Education Act says that its objective is to form a secular outlook.

It is my duty to ensure that the school is secular.

Poovayya: Udupi district alone has 12 govt colleges, a child can choose to go to a school which does not stop wearing hijab. It is also duty of the school, most children are minors, when they are minor it is my duty to provide the best benchmark.

Poovayya : Out of these 100 only 5 children insist that they want to wear hijab.

Poovayya: I have 950 students in my school, out of that 100 are belonging to Muslim faith. Out of that till December none of the students insisted on wearing hijab.

Poovayya: A secular outlook is maintained in the precincts of the school. We are reaching a stage where girls should wear skirts and boys trousers. Schools in Kerala have brought in gender neutrality. But here is a case...

Poovayya : Even if it is an essential religious practice, it has to yield in a public institution.