Revision as of 15:20, 16 March 2022

Hijab during examinations

Allow hijab at pre-med exam, HC tells CBSE

The Times of India, Jul 22 2015

Allow hijab at pre-med exam, HC tells CBSE

The Kerala high court ordered CBSE to allow two Muslim girls to wear headscarves and full-sleeve dresses while appearing for the national medical entrance to be held on July 25th, 2015. They had argued that it is required as per their religious custom. Justice K Vinod Chandran issued the order in favour of Asiya Abdul Karim of Ashokapuram in Kozhikode and Nadha Rahim of Olavakkode in Palakkad while disposing petitions filed by them questioning the new dress code brought in by CBSE on July 9th, 2015 for candidates appearing for the All-India Pre-Medical Test.

The court said a woman invigilator should be present at the exam centre. The candidates wearing scarves should present themselves before the invigilator half an hour prior to the commencement of the examination.

SC upholds ban on hijab and long sleeves in pre-med test

The Times of India, Jul 25 2015

Dhananjay Mahapatra

`Religion can't override CBSE dress code'

The Supreme Court declined to entertain the trend of flaunting religious beliefs to seek immunity from dress code, asking three Muslim girls and little-known Students Islamic Organization of India (SIOI) to follow the code prescribed by CBSE for the All India Pre-Medical Test. Buoyed by the Kerala high court's recent order allowing two Muslim girls to wear head scarves at the exam, SIOI and the students requested the SC to grant similar relaxation to all Muslim girls during AIPMT, allowing full-sleeved dresses and head scarves. Appearing for them, advocate Sanjay Hegde said, “It is a matter of religious belief.Muslim women and girls are required by religion to be attired in full-sleeve clothing and scarf whenever they appear in public. If the relaxation in dress code is not grant ed, these girls may have to drop out of the examination.“

The bench said, “The CBSE has come out with a dress code for the sake of keeping the examination fair and proper. It is a matter of three hours. You observe the dress code mandated by the CBSE for three hours and then wear the scarf as long as you want.“ “If during the examination you do not tie the scarf, you would not be committing a sin. No discourtesy will be shown to the religion if you appear in the examination without a scarf... You go and appear in the test, don't waste time in the court,“ it said. A IPMT was cancelled by the SC following alle gations of large-scale cheating by students. To prevent a repeat, CBSE had issued an examination dress code for students making it difficult for them to hide chits or gadgets.

The CBSE notification prohibiting `scarves', `hair pin' and `hair band' as well as mandating all students to wear half-sleeved clothes without big buttons was termed by petitioners as `anti-Islamic'. “If the above portions of the notification of CBSE are enforced, the petitioners will not be in a position to sit for the AIPMT scheduled for July 25 and would also amount to violation of their right to freedom of religion,“ the petition said.

A bench of Chief Justice H L Dattu and Justices Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy said this argument ­ “allow me to wear the dress dictated by religion otherwise I would not appear in the examination“ ­ was “nothing but an ego issue“.

Appearing for the students, senior advocate Sanjay Hegde said the students were ready to come to the examination centre an hour before the scheduled time to subject themselves to a thorough check by women invigilators.But the bench asked: “If all the students come dressed similarly , how would the in vigilator examine their religion and determine whether they were entitled to claim relaxation in dress code?“ The CJI said the SC has on administrative side passed an order saying no one would enter the court rooms with a cap or hat on. “Can a person violate it saying he belonged to a particular religion,“ he asked. Finding the going tough, Hegde sought permission to withdraw the petition. The court dismissed it as withdrawn.