Karnataka HC judges, who pronounced verdict in hijab row, given `Y` category security

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai also instructed officials to probe the complaint filed in Vidhanasoudha Police Station in which some people had issued death threats to the three judges.

New Delhi: The Basavaraj Bommai-led government on Sunday (March 20, 2022) decided to give a 'Y' category security to all the three judges of the Karnataka High Court, who had pronounced the verdict in the hijab row, after they received death threats.

The Karnataka Chief Minister also instructed the officials to probe the complaint filed in Vidhanasoudha Police Station in which some people had issued death threats to the three judges. 

"We've decided to give 'Y' category security to all three judges who gave the Hijab verdict. I have instructed DG and IG to probe the complaint filed in Vidhanasoudha PS thoroughly in which some people gave life threats to the judges," Bommai was quoted as saying by ANI.

The development comes a day after two people were held in connection with issuing death threats to the Special Bench judges of the Karnataka High Court. The arrests were made after multiple complaints were lodged against the accused in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Earlier last week, the special bench comprising Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justices Krishna S Dixit and Khaji Jaibunnesa Mohiyuddin, while dismissing the petitions demanding hijab in classrooms, had underlined that wearing of hijab is not an essential part of Islam.

"We are of the considered opinion that wearing of Hijab by Muslim women does not form a part of essential religious practice in the Islamic faith,'' the three-judge High Court bench had said.

It is notable that the hijab protests in Karnataka had started in January this year when some students of Government Girls PU college in the Udupi district of the state had alleged that they had been barred from attending classes.

During the protests, some students had claimed they were denied entry into the college for wearing hijab. Following this incident, students of different colleges had arrived at Shanteshwar Education Trust in Vijayapura wearing saffron stoles. 

The girls later approached the Karnataka High Court and demanded that they should be allowed to enter classrooms while wearing hijabs.

Meanwhile, a fresh plea has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Karnataka High Court verdict. The top court on Wednesday had said that it would list other pleas on the issue for hearing after Holi vacation.

(With agency inputs)