After a nine-year battle, the Gauhati High Court allowed Fathima Beewi to continue wearing a hijab at a Catholic Mission-run school, Kristo Jyoti School, near Bokakhat in upper Assam’s Golaghat district.
“I filed the case in the Golaghat court. The case then went to the Guwahati High Court and I was physically present in two of the hearings. Although my girl, who now studies in Class 8, has been allowed to attend school with the hijab since nursery, there was always the question of what if. Today, I am happy as the High Court has given its decision. Most importantly my daughter is relieved,” said Alee Ahmed, Fatima’s mother.
THE CASE
It all started in 2013 when Ahmed moved the Gauhati High Court after the school refused to allow her daughter to wear a ‘hijab’ (head scarf) along with the school uniform in nursery.
The English-medium high school is run by the Parish of Bokakhat under the Diocese of Dibrugarh.
The school authorities gave the girl’s parents 15 days to either follow the rules or asked them to stop sending her to school. On March 25, Ahmed wrote to Principal Father Jose Varghese requesting a relaxation in uniform rules and allow her daughter to wear the ‘hijab’.
On April 8, 2013, Ahmed filed a writ petition in the High Court with a prayer to set aside the decision of the school’s managing committee as reflected in the Principal’s letter.
Giving his final judgment, Justice Achintya Malla Bujor Barua said according to the petitioner, there was no other English medium school in the locality which brought in a compulsion to admit her child to the said school.
According to the petitioner, she hails from Kilimanoor village of Trivandam district in Kerala and is governed by the Islamic religion and the rules governing the persons of Islamic faith. Subsequently, the child is required to have her head covered by a piece of cloth.
SCHOOL TAKES HUMANITARIAN VIEW
The judgment copy further mentioned that considering the “interest of the child”, the school authorities had “allowed the child to pursue her studies and continue up to Class 8 wearing the nakab (hijab)”.
The court further asked that as only two more years of the child’s education in the school remain, whether, like in the past nine years, the authorities would allow the child to continue and complete her studies.
Assistant Principal Nicholos Kerketta gave a statement that the child would be allowed to continue her studies.
The court, however, mentioned that “it shall not be treated as a precedent in any manner to be made applicable to any other person”.
Secondly, the court also took note of the fact that allowing the girl to wear a hijab was “purely a humanitarian gesture” on part of the school and not one to recognise any other legal right of the petitioner.
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