New Delhi, Sep 7 (LIVELAW): The Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, on Wednesday, continued hearing the batch of petitions challenging the Karnataka High Court's judgment which upheld the ban on wearing of Hijab by Muslim girl students in some schools and colleges in the State. In today's hearings, on submissions of Senior Advocate Devadatt Kamat, appearing for the petitioner in the lead petition, Aishat Shifa v. State of Karnataka, Justice Hemant Gupta stated that his submission of freedom of expression including the freedom to dress and adding headscarf to uniform was "taking it to illogical ends". Justice Gupta then enquired if the right to dress would also include right to undressing.

Senior Advocate Devadatt Kamat, who was appearing for the petitioners, argued that the Government Order violates the fundamental rights of students under Articles 19, 21 and 25 of the Constitution of India, as per a report by LiveLaw. He added that the right to freedom of expression under Article 19 also includes dress. To this, Justice Hemant Gupta remarked, “You can't take it to illogical ends. Right to dress will include the right to undress also?" as per LiveLaw.  The advocate also made an argument that Kendriya Vidyalayas under the Central Government allow girl students to wear headscarves, which are of the same colour as the uniform, as per LiveLaw. He also referred to similar cases in other countries by relying on a judgment of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, pertaining to the right of a Hindu girl from South India to wear a nose ring. However, in response to this, Justice Gupta said that the nose pin is not a religious symbol, as stated in the report by LiveLaw.