As we are celebrating the Aazaadi Kaa Amrit Mahotsav galore across the country, the freedom of women who belong to a particular faith is under serious threat.
After the boastful claims of women liberation among Muslims through the banning of Triple Talaq in India, the issue of Hijab has become the point of discussion in the public.
The state has argued that the educational institutions are not meant for any religious practice and has directly associated the wearing of Hijab with the faith of Islam.
Therefore making this practice intolerable in educational institutes that have a Uniform Code. This argument suddenly represents India as a country with zero religious sensitivity.
The uniform code, which has been established by the college applies to the body of the students and not the head. The students who have been asked to take off their Hijabs by no means defy the fundamental Uniform Code as they are wearing every requisite part of the uniform.
In today’s world where liberty is celebrated as the ultimate ideal for which every individual must strive, the Hijab row puts a big question mark on the freedom an individual is allowed in Indian Institutions of education.
The women, who are right now protesting against the Hijab disallowance at Karnataka are protesting against the decision not only because it is an attack on their religious freedom, but their modesty as well. Nowhere is it against the law to protect yourself from vulnerability to an attack, especially through non-violent means.
The practice of covering the head is not limited to Islam only, as in Christianity Mother Mary who is the symbol of modesty, rarely or never gets featured without her head covered. India as a cultured civilisation has the tradition of Ghoongat in which women by their choice choose to cover their heads and get appreciated by the society for choosing this form of modesty.
The girls who hold Hijab dear to them and choose to wear Hijab feel uncomfortable without wearing Hijab. They feel vulnerable to the predatory gaze, and a woman has the right to protect herself from being looked at with lustful eyes.
Does her covering of head protect her from the chance of getting abused? This does not matter because it is how she feels about herself and her security, and has a right to protect her modesty and respect in an institution or the society in general.
If one takes the account of how many rights this banning of Hijab violates, one will lose count. The Right to the Freedom of Religion, The Right to Liberty, The Right to Life, The Right to Privacy, The Right to Education, The Right to Equality (on account of getting discriminated against for practicing the religion).
It is not that Islam is unknown to India or has made a recent entry into India. Islam is a practice of a sizable Indian population that has been living in India for more than a millennium now.
The onus is now on the judiciary to comprehensively explain the concept of Indian secularism to Governments; for them to respect the non-religious spirit of the Indian state.
The judiciary also needs to establish its independence by performing its duty of protecting the constitution of India which is the protector of the citizen and the rule book for the executive that the executive cannot transgress.
Syed Mudawar Shamus is a Research Scholar, Journalism and Mass Communication, at Maulana Azad National Urdu University.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.