Allahabad HC Rules Wearing Hijab Is Not an Essential Religious Practice for Women in Islam

Gist The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a petition seeking permission for a Muslim student to wear a hijab with her school uniform, ruling that wearing a headscarf has not been established as an "essential religious practice" in Islam. The court held that enforcing an institutional dress code does not constitute an infringement on the freedom of faith, but is rather a matter of institutional discipline. For aspirants, this judgment is crucial as it adds to the growing jurisprudence around the judicially created 'Essential Religious Practices' test and the limits of individual fundamental rights within regulated educational spaces. Background The Essential Religious Practices ERP doctrine is a legal framework evolved by the judiciary to determine which religious practices receive constitutional protection. Under this doctrine, only practices that are fundamental and indispensable to a religion—without which the very nature of the faith would be altered—are protected against state interference. Prior to this ruling, similar disputes over the wearing of religious markers in educational institutions have been litigated in the Karnataka High Court and the Bombay High Court . Both of these…