Karnataka Hijab Ban: State Govt Lifts Restriction, Allows Wearing of Religious Symbols | newsX

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:00:00]We're now moving on to another important news. This one coming in from Karnataka on the hijab ban order. The Karnataka government has issued a significant order nullifying with immediate effect its contentious February 2022 order that banned the wearing of him hijab and other religious symbols in aided and private schools and pre-university colleges. The new circular issued by the Department of School Education and Literacy has effectively withdrawn the earlier order permitting students to wear limited traditional and faith-based symbols such as hijab, turban, sacred threads, Shivadhara, Rudraksh, and other similar items along with the prescribed uniform.

[00:00:49]The original government order dated February 5, 2022 had directed all government aided and private schools and pre-university colleges in Karnataka to strictly enforce prescribed uniforms effectively prohibiting students from wearing the hijab and other religious symbols in classrooms. This had then led to a nationwide protest along with a chain of litigation before the concerned courts.

[00:01:21]Let's go back to my colleague Belly Thomas reporting on that. Belly, a significant reversal of the previous order of 2022. What has made the Karnataka government take this step now?

[00:01:36]Comes in the backdrop of the two professors from I think the Department two college staff were getting suspended over asking students who came to write the degree exams to remove their Janivara, that is the sacred thread. So, this is this has become a controversy in in the recent past and gotten to the knowledge of the government and they have been working for the solve this issue. So, this original government order that was dated February 2022 during the Basavaraj Bommai government had directed all government aided and private schools and pre-university colleges in Karnataka to strictly enforce the prescribed uniform. The schools need to adhere to only the prescribed uniform and not and effectively prohibiting students from wearing hijab and other religious symbols like turban, shivdara, even tika for that matter. So, this this was being followed and that had at that time led to a nationwide protest and long chain of litigations also before court and wearing of of hijab was not a essential religious practice in Islamic faith and thus it is not protected under the article 25 of the constitution is what was ruled by the Karnataka High Court then and then subsequently then again a two two judge bench of the Supreme Court had delivered a split decision in the challenge against 2022 circular which resulted in the matter being referred to a larger bench. The reference of this has been pending since the split decision. So, now this new circular issued by the Department of School and Education Literacy has effectively nullified or withdrawn the earlier order. This would permit students to wear limited traditional and faith symbols such as hijab, turban, sacred thread, janivara and shivdara, rudraksha and other similar items along with the prescribed uniform. So, this is the the new order and this has come again in the time when the BJP again attacked the Congress on making this issue revive again.

[00:04:06]The Congress is known for creating controversies and there was no need to nullify an order at this point of time and because of the the by-polls defeat and the local body elections fearing that they would lose in the local body elections they are coming up with this decision is what the BJP here is alleging.