Open Forum
New Delhi, 23 March
2022
Hijab
Order
OF SECULARISM
& RIGHTS?
By
Dr.Oishee Mukherjee
Upset over Karnataka
High Court’s recent ruling that wearing a hijab (headscarf) is not an essential
religious practice in Islamic faith and uniform, the All India Muslim Personal
Law Board has decided to go in for an appeal to the Supreme Court. It sees the
verdict as violating Personal Liberty Rights and attempts to decide what is and
is not essential in Islam.
In its judgement, which
has led to a debate, the Karnataka court observed “the Holy Quran does not
mandate the wearing of the hijab or headgear for Muslim women.” Further, that “the
school regulations prescribing dress code for all the students as one
homogenous class serve constitutional secularism.”
AIMLB General Secretary
has refuted the claim that hijab is not essential to Islam and asserted banning
it is an intrusion into the constitutional rights of Muslim citizens and Muslim
citizens’ Constitutional Rights.“Islam and Shariat have made certain things farz(duties)
and wajib (obligatory) on Muslims, and it is lazim (required)
that they be followed.One such Obligatory requirement is
the wearing of a hijab. Muslims who do not perform Namaz or Roza out
of ignorance or laziness are not expelled from Islam, but they do Commit a Sin.”
Similarly, the fact that some Muslims do not wear the hijab does not render the
Act unimportant in Islam.”At the same time, opinion is: “Certainly, schools
have the right to decide on a uniform as far as their boundary walls are
concerned,” but it their attention has been drawn that “the Case that went
to Court was not related to schools but colleges, where coercion of uniforms
cannot be made.”
The appeal would obviously
be closely followed. Many would hope positively as the Supreme Court has been a
champion of equality and among others conferred daughters with equal right to
father’s property prior to codification of Hindu personal laws. The debate of
the hijab ban incidentally hasn’t been confined to India alone but reached
global shores.The questions arising are whether there is a continuing slide
into minority suppression in the name of uniformity? Or should religious dress
codes come at the cost of education?
Recall, at the start
of the controversy, US Ambassador for international religious freedom, Rashid
Hussain, tweeted: “Religious freedom includes the ability to choose one’s
religious attire. The Indian state of Karnataka should not determine
permissibility of religious clothing. Hijab bans in schools violate religious
freedom and stigmatise and marginalise women and girls”. Even well-known thinker, Noam Chomsky at a
congressional briefing accused the Modi government of “systematically
dismantling India’s secular democracy” and turning Muslims into a “persecuted
minority”. Criticism also came from Council on American-Islamic Relations wherein
it said the hijab ban was just one more example of mistreatment of Indian
Muslims.
In fact, the row has
put a question mark on whether India can profess to be truly ‘secular’. In
recent times it seems amiss. In a liberal democracy with the country moving
forward on socio-economic fronts, such bans or moral policing or vigilantism can’t
be tolerated. In fact there are certain items in a male attire, such as the
turban, skull cap, tilak or cross, that are allowed. If there is no ban on these,
why are young girls and women having to bear the brunt?
Besides, religious preachers
talk of decency and modesty in dress code, whether it is for Hindus, Muslims or
Christians. But in a modern or if we say permissive society, young girls like
to go against tradition and dress up in a western manner. Such an attire is
generally not accepted by puritans of religious groups and often condemned as
ultra-modern or indecent.
This could be another
debate: on what constitutes decency and whether women and girls have freedom
and personal choice like the men. Many countries, including Tunisia, Turkey,
Syria and Egypt have banned hijab in public schools and colleges. On the other
hand, hijab/burqa is mandatory by law in Iraq, Afghanistan and some parts of
Saudi Arabia.
The attitudinal
change that we see in society has brought about waves of modernisation. The dress
code row come to think of it raises a bigger question:stature and rights of girls
and women. Recent developments in India present a mixed picture. While it is
heartening to note that the Centre and defence forces agreed to open the doors
for women to the National Defence Academy (NDA), which has been a male bastion
since its inception, on the other hand, the just released report revealed that
there was a record 28% surge in crimes registered across India in 2020 compared
with 2019.
A major increase may
be attributed to a sharp rise in cases filed over violation of Covid-19 norms
but also due to offences directly related to women, as per the ‘Crime in India
2020’ report released by the National Crime Records Bureau. Moreover, there
were over 28,000 incidents of rape involving 28,153 victims and 2655 were below
the age of 18 years with 291 of them below 12.
In examining the
position of women, it may be necessary to delve into the question of their land
rights. Goal 5 of SDGs aims to undertake reforms to give women equal tights to
economic resources and access to ownership of property, underscoring the
importance of land rights. The World Bank stated that in 40% of the world’s
economies, women face legal barriers to obtaining land and property rights,
clearly revealing the fact that women are deprived of this. UN Women estimates
that less than 20% of the world’s landholders are women.
In India, as per the
latest census, around 14% of agricultural land operators are women and they
operate only 11.72% of agricultural lands. This again is a pointer to women
status and the need to facilitate women’s ownership and what undercuts the
implantation of such laws, how women can use land to their advantage and how
women can assert their legal rights vis-a-vis property.
Another aspect is the
pervasive effect of religion in society, specially on uneducated and half
educated sections of society. The so-called progressiveness that is hailed
nowadays has not reached the puritans or fundamentalists of Islam religion.
Even among staunch Hindus, there are groups that want women to play a subdued
role in society as they want patriarchy to dominate.
In addition, political
parties which should be engines of change with their ideas, shy away from
interfering with religious groups, and in present times, religion has started
playing a larger role. The lack of consensus in ensuring a uniform civil code could
be one such example. In the 21st century, no law should deny the
autonomy and status of woman. What if society itself is regressive and denies
women basic dignity as in the case presently?
Finally, religious
freedom as guaranteed by Constitution’s Article 25 hasn’t been violated. The
key principle is that a school uniform is a universal requirement and therefore
not sectarian. The entire question translates down to empowerment of women and girls
by providing them unhindered education. This would facilitate assertion of
their rights and stand up to religious groups or political leaders.---INFA
(Copyright, India News
& Feature Alliance)
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