India's top court upholds ban on headscarf during medical test

India highest court asks Muslim girls to follow country's board of secretary education's dress code

India's top court on Saturday refused to allow students to wear the headscarf and full-sleeved outfits for their medical test, directing them to observe the dress-code policy set by educational institutions in the country.

The country’s highest court asked three Muslim girls and students belonging to the Students Islamic Organisation of India to obey the code set by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for the All India Pre-Medical Test.

The verdict came after Kerala High Court on Tuesday allowed two Muslim girls to wear the headscarf during examination. Following this, the students filed a petition in India's Supreme Court to also grant this relaxation to all Muslim girls during the medical test and let them wear full-sleeved dresses with a headscarf.

Read: Kerala court allows Muslim girls to wear hijab for medical entrance test

However, the SC bench hearing the petition said CBSE had come up with a dress code in order to keep the examination fair. “It is a matter of three hours. You observe the dress code mandated by the CBSE for three hours and then wear the scarf as long as you want."

The bench made its stance clear by stating, "This is an examination. If during the examination you do not tie the scarf, you would not be committing a sin. No discourtesy will be shown to the religion if you appear in the examination without a scarf. You go and appear in the test and don't waste time in the court."

Read: Woman sues police over headscarf removal

Earlier, the medical test was cancelled by the SC as acute allegations were leveled that large-scale cheating by students took place during the examination. Later on, the CBSE had issued the dress code policy to eliminate any chance of cheating by hiding unfair means, chits or gadgets, under their dresses.

However, the CBSE's prohibition of 'scarves', 'hair pins' and 'hair bands' as well as mandating all students to wear half-sleeved clothes without big buttons was termed by petitioners as 'anti-Islamic'.

"If the above portions of the notification of CBSE are enforced, the petitioners will not be in a position to sit for the AIPMT scheduled for July 25 and would also amount to violation of their right to freedom of religion," the petition said.

The bench comprising of three judges remarked that the argument allow me to wear the dress dictated by religion otherwise I would not appear in the examination" — was "nothing but an ego issue".

The article originally appeared on the Times of India.