Munmun Kaur
Published On: February 15, 2022 at 15:32 IST
Recently, the Hindu Sena Vice President intervened in the ongoing Hijab row as he filed a Plea before the Karnataka High Court stating that Freedom of Religion is not absolute in a Secular Democracy.
Surjit Singh Yadav, in his Plea, said that Hindus have respect for all religions and therefore, it is expected that members of other communities reciprocate the same and maintain the public order and tranquility.
The Applicant relied on Supreme Court’s Judgment in Kesavandanda Bharati v. State of Kerala, and stated that Indian society comprises of multi-religious people, and members of each community are under the Constitutional obligation to maintain peace and public order. The Applicant further said that the dress code prescribed by the educational institutions is with the basic idea to uphold the secularism of the Indian Constitution. Therefore, it is the duty of each and every citizen of India to uphold secularism as per the provision of the Constitution.
The Application further read,
“Wearing Hijab or Bhagwa dress give color to religious importance, is contrary to Constitution of India and therefore, an educational institution is within their powers to ban any dress which represents any religion in an educational institution.”
On February 09, the matter which was earlier being heard by Single-Judge Justice Krishna S Dixit, was referred to a larger Bench stating that the Case involves important issues.