Muslim students appearing in the All-India Pre Medical Test on Saturday will not be allowed to wear hijab (headscarves). The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday said that wearing a hijab for a three-hour examination will not affect anyone’s religious practice and turned away a Muslim organization that challenged the July 9 order of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
The CBSE is conducting a retest of the All-India Pre Medical Test 2015 after the earlier exam held on May 3 was scrapped on orders passed by the SC following leakage of the answer key. Noting the extraordinary situation in which the retest is to be
conducted, the apex court fully backed the CBSE.
The Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Hl Dattu said: “This is just an
examination. If you go to exam without a scarf, your faith will not be affected.”
The Students Islamic Organization had approached the court to allow Muslim girls to wear headscarves during the examination. Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde who appeared for the Muslim body said that headscarf was a customary dress to be mandatorily worn by every Muslim woman. Thus it was an essential religious practice and the CBSE order fell foul of Constitutional freedom to practice one’s religion.
The court said that an organization had no business to come forward on this issue as it was left to the aggrieved students. On July 21, Kerala High Court granted permission to two Muslim girls to wear full sleeve clothes to the examination hall on the condition
that they arrive early for frisking purposes.
Hegde suggested that Muslim students are willing to come even an hour prior to the exam but they had to adhere to their religious practice. The Bench, also comprising Justices Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy dismissed the argument saying it was purely an “ego” issue. It said, “What if everybody comes wearing a scarf and say even they are supposed to wear it as per their faith, will the examiner in the hall have to
enquire which religion, what faith, etc. We have to make a clear distinction.”
This is only an examination, the court reminded the petitioner and pointed out that even in SC, wearing a skull cap inside courtroom is not allowed. A petition challenging it was dismissed. Terming it a “small issue” the court was about to dismiss the petition when Hegde requested the court to withdraw the case.