Hijab Order
By Dr. Oishee Mukherjee
Upset over Karnataka High Court’s recent ruling that wearing a hijab (headscarf) is not an essential religious practice in Islamic faith and uniform, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board has decided to go in for an appeal to the Supreme Court. It sees the verdict as violating Personal Liberty Rights and attempts to decide what is and is not essential in Islam.
In its judgement, which has led to a debate, the Karnataka court observed “the Holy Quran does not mandate the wearing of the hijab or headgear for Muslim women.” Further, that “the school regulations prescribing dress code for all the students as one homogenous class serve constitutional secularism.”
AIMLB General Secretary has refuted the claim that hijab is not essential to Islam and asserted banning it is an intrusion into the constitutional rights of Muslim citizens and Muslim citizens’ Constitutional Rights.”Islam and Shariat have made certain things farz(duties) and wajib (obligatory) on Muslims, and it is lazim (required) that they be followed.One such Obligatory requirement is the wearing of a hijab. Muslims who do not perform Namaz or Roza out of ignorance or laziness are not expelled from Islam, but they do Commit a Sin.” Similarly, the fact that some Muslims do not wear the hijab does not render the Act unimportant in Islam.”At the same time, opinion is: “Certainly, schools have the right to decide on a uniform as far as their boundary walls are concerned,” but it their attention has been drawn that “the Case that went to Court was not related to schools but colleges, where coercion of uniforms cannot be made.”
The appeal would obviously be closely followed. Many would hope positively as the Supreme Court has been a champion of equality and among others conferred daughters with equal right to father’s property prior to codification of Hindu personal laws. The debate of the hijab ban incidentally hasn’t been confined to India alone but reached global shores.The questions arising are whether there is a continuing slide into minority suppression in the name of uniformity? Or should religious dress codes come at the cost of education?
Recall, at the start of the controversy, US Ambassador for international religious freedom, Rashid Hussain, tweeted: “Religious freedom includes the ability to choose one’s religious attire. The Indian state of Karnataka should not determine permissibility of religious clothing. Hijab bans in schools violate religious freedom and stigmatise and marginalise women and girls”. Even well-known thinker, Noam Chomsky at a congressional briefing accused the Modi government of “systematically dismantling India’s secular democracy” and turning Muslims into a “persecuted minority”. Criticism also came from Council on American-Islamic Relations wherein it said the hijab ban was just one more example of mistreatment of Indian Muslims.
In fact, the row has put a question mark on whether India can profess to be truly ‘secular’. In recent times it seems amiss. In a liberal democracy with the country moving forward on socio-economic fronts, such bans or moral policing or vigilantism can’t be tolerated. In fact there are certain items in a male attire, such as the turban, skull cap, tilak or cross, that are allowed. If there is no ban on these, why are young girls and women having to bear the brunt?
Besides, religious preachers talk of decency and modesty in dress code, whether it is for Hindus, Muslims or Christians. But in a modern or if we say permissive society, young girls like to go against tradition and dress up in a western manner. Such an attire is generally not accepted by puritans of religious groups and often condemned as ultra-modern or indecent.
This could be another debate: on what constitutes decency and whether women and girls have freedom and personal choice like the men. Many countries, including Tunisia, Turkey, Syria and Egypt have banned hijab in public schools and colleges. On the other hand, hijab/burqa is mandatory by law in Iraq, Afghanistan and some parts of Saudi Arabia.
The attitudinal change that we see in society has brought about waves of modernisation. The dress code row come to think of it raises a bigger question:stature and rights of girls and women. Recent developments in India present a mixed picture. While it is heartening to note that the Centre and defence forces agreed to open the doors for women to the National Defence Academy (NDA), which has been a male bastion since its inception, on the other hand, the just released report revealed that there was a record 28% surge in crimes registered across India in 2020 compared with 2019.
A major increase may be attributed to a sharp rise in cases filed over violation of Covid-19 norms but also due to offences directly related to women, as per the ‘Crime in India 2020’ report released by the National Crime Records Bureau. Moreover, there were over 28,000 incidents of rape involving 28,153 victims and 2655 were below the age of 18 years with 291 of them below 12.
In examining the position of women, it may be necessary to delve into the question of their land rights. Goal 5 of SDGs aims to undertake reforms to give women equal tights to economic resources and access to ownership of property, underscoring the importance of land rights. The World Bank stated that in 40% of the world’s economies, women face legal barriers to obtaining land and property rights, clearly revealing the fact that women are deprived of this. UN Women estimates that less than 20% of the world’s landholders are women.
In India, as per the latest census, around 14% of agricultural land operators are women and they operate only 11.72% of agricultural lands. This again is a pointer to women status and the need to facilitate women’s ownership and what undercuts the implantation of such laws, how women can use land to their advantage and how women can assert their legal rights vis-a-vis property.
Another aspect is the pervasive effect of religion in society, specially on uneducated and half educated sections of society. The so-called progressiveness that is hailed nowadays has not reached the puritans or fundamentalists of Islam religion. Even among staunch Hindus, there are groups that want women to play a subdued role in society as they want patriarchy to dominate.
In addition, political parties which should be engines of change with their ideas, shy away from interfering with religious groups, and in present times, religion has started playing a larger role. The lack of consensus in ensuring a uniform civil code could be one such example. In the 21st century, no law should deny the autonomy and status of woman. What if society itself is regressive and denies women basic dignity as in the case presently?
Finally, religious freedom as guaranteed by Constitution’s Article 25 hasn’t been violated. The key principle is that a school uniform is a universal requirement and therefore not sectarian. The entire question translates down to empowerment of women and girls by providing them unhindered education. This would facilitate assertion of their rights and stand up to religious groups or political leaders.— INFA