Mumbai, June 15: Nine students from a Mumbai college have filed a petition in the Bombay High Court, contesting a college directive that enforces a strict dress code prohibiting attire that reveals a student’s religion, such as burqas, niqabs, hijabs, caps, badges, and stoles.
The contentious directive, issued by Chembur Trombay Education Society’s NG Acharya and DK Marathe College, mandates that students adhere to a formal and decent dress code that excludes any religious symbols. Specifically, boys are instructed to wear full or half shirts with normal trousers, while girls are required to wear non-revealing Indian or Western attire. The directive, disseminated via WhatsApp messages to second and third-year students, is set to take effect in the new academic year starting June 2024.
The petitioners, represented by advocate Altaf Khan, approached the court after several junior college girls were denied entry for wearing hijabs, in violation of the new dress code. They argue that the directive is illegal, arbitrary, and unreasonable, asserting that the college lacks the authority to impose such restrictions.
The plea emphasizes that the directive infringes on the students’ religious beliefs and their rights to privacy and personal expression, which are protected under Articles 19 and 21 of the Indian Constitution. The students have requested the court to declare the directive void and non-binding.
The Division Bench of Justices AS Chandurkar and Rajesh Patil is expected to hear the plea on June 18.
This case comes amid ongoing national debates over dress codes in educational institutions. Notably, the Supreme Court is yet to deliver a final judgment on a similar issue in Karnataka, where a government order from 2022 allowed colleges to ban hijabs. The Karnataka High Court upheld the ban, leading to an appeal that resulted in a split verdict from the Supreme Court, now referred to a larger bench.
