Karnataka Scraps Controversial Hijab Ban After Three Years
The state administration has officially withdrawn the controversial restriction to permit students to wear religious headscarves during class.
The state government has issued a fresh order permitting students to wear limited traditional symbols in classrooms, reversing a 2022 decision that sparked nationwide debate.
The Karnataka government has scrapped its controversial 2022 ban on hijab in classrooms. On Wednesday, officials issued a fresh order that lets students wear what they call limited traditional and practice based symbols. The move ends a policy that kept some Muslim girls out of school for three years.
Back in February 2022, the previous BJP led administration introduced the ban. They insisted all students stick to the uniform code set by their schools and colleges. The result was that several Muslim girls could not attend classes. The decision sparked protests and put Karnataka in the national spotlight.
Legal challenges followed quickly. In March 2022, the High Court backed the government, ruling that wearing hijab was not an essential religious practice in Islam. The case went to the Supreme Court, which gave a split verdict in October that same year. This left the issue hanging without a clear resolution.
The new order removes those old restrictions. It allows limited traditional symbols, though officials have not yet clarified exactly what this means for schools on the ground.
The change comes after Muslim community leaders pressed the ruling Congress party hard on the issue. They pointed out that three years into Congress rule, the hijab ban was still in place.
The pressure grew sharper when Congress decided not to field a Muslim candidate in the upcoming Davanagere bypoll. Community leaders saw this as a snub and raised the unresolved hijab issue as a major concern, pushing the government to finally act.