The Karnataka hijab ban row is not easy to resolve. The two-judge bench of the Supreme Court delivered a split verdict on Thursday last, seeking the indulgence of Chief Justice Lalit for setting up an appropriate bench. In his 73-page judgment, Justice Dhulia set aside the Karnataka High Court order, which refused to lift the ban on hijab in educational institutions and quashed the government order. He noted: “Venturing into essential religious practice wasn’t needed and the court took a wrong way. It was just a question of choice. One thing which was topmost for me was the education of girl child…Schools are not required to have the discipline and regimentation of a military camp… It’s necessary to have discipline in schools. But discipline not at the cost of freedom, not at the cost of dignity.”

Whereas in his 140-page judgment, Justice Gupta said: “The schools run by the State are open for admission irrespective of any religion, race, caste, language or any of them…Even the Act (Karnataka Education Act-1983) mandates that students would be admitted without any restriction on such grounds. However, the students are required to follow the discipline of the school in the matter of uniforms. They have no right to be in the school in violation of the mandate of the uniform prescribed under the statute and the rules.”

With differing opinions, how soon will the CJI give appropriate directions is the obvious question. But a bigger one is as Justice Dhulia asked: “another question which school administration and state must answer is as to what is more important to them — education of a girl child or enforcement of a dress code…It’s common knowledge that a girl child primarily in rural and semi-rural areas has a lot of difficulties, and has to do daily chores before she goes to school. There are other difficulties as well. Are we making her life any better?” 

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