It’s really interesting to hear the Guwahati High Court allowing, in an exceptional ruling, a 10-year Fathima Beewi of Kristo Jyoti Mission school student to continue her study wearing hijab. As a result, she, as well as her parents, want to dress freely. Indeed, it’s a historic victory for which her mother, Alee Ahmed, who struggled for a long while.
The fight spanned nine years when the stand-alone English medium of the locality objected to her dress code in 2003, expressing concern over the school uniform norm. Then her mother approached with appealing writs to provide her daughter’s right to education irrespective of clad or dress code.
It became more intriguing as the judgment of Guwahati HC in Assam came as a humanitarian gesture for the girl and her mother just after the pacification of the Hijab issue emerged in Karnataka.
The BJP government rules both these states, and the issue snowballed throughout the country, where the ban on hijab was upheld. The ruling adduced the reality regarding the independence of the Indian judiciary as it is free from the influence of the ruling power.
However, the court asserted for the girl’s right that the judgement should not be considered as precedent for further appeals, though the reasons may be similarly corresponding. The Muslim family of Assam originally hailed from Kerala, where putting on a hijab is habitual and religiously customary normalcy.
Reasons for ubiquitous hijab donning in Kerala may be varied, ranging from proximity to the ocean off Arab culture or higher religious concern, proper constitutional awareness or stern leadership. That’s why the mother was so persistent in getting her religious and educational rights without exception, though she is far off her state.
When relating to other states, including Assam, where Muslims constitute nearly 35% of the total state population, many are deprived of these intersectional rights of feminism as most Muslim women choose to hijab with enthusiasm as far as don’t object to the clothing code. So, the judiciary should be conscious of this kind of intersectional rights. This ‘humanitarian gesture’ is wholeheartedly welcome to be epitomised as a precedent for the sake of humanitarian service.