‘Students goaded into wearing hijab to school by PFI’

 ‘Students goaded into wearing hijab to school by PFI’

No student was insisting on hijab till 2022, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta tells Supreme Court Bench led by Justice Hemant Gupta

Debate continues: The agitation on hijab was part of a larger conspiracy, Karnataka says in the Supreme Court. File photo

The Hindu Bureau NEW DELHI

The State of Karnataka in the Supreme Court on Tuesday said students were goaded into wearing hijab to school by the Popular Front of India (PFI) through social media messages.

Appearing before a Bench led by Justice Hemant Gupta, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that students had not insisted on wearing hijab till 2022. Mr. Mehta said the agitation on hijab was part of a “larger conspiracy” orchestrated by the PFI to create social unrest. Now, other students are insisting on wearing saffron shawls to classrooms, he said.

Mr. Mehta said in 2022, agitations have sprang up with children insisting on hijab or saffron shawls.

Senior advocate Dushyant Dave had wound up the petitioner side’s submissions by arguing that the High Court had erred in testing the legality of wearing hijab in public places on the touchstone of “essential religious practice”. Mr. Dave said it was the right of a Muslim woman to choose to cover her head.