Published : 25 Aug 2026, 06:18 PM
Updated : 08 Sep 2026, 09:35 AM
The Allahabad High Court has rejected a Muslim student’s plea to wear a hijab with her school uniform.
The court ruled she failed to establish that covering her head was an essential religious practice the school was required to accommodate, News18 reports.
A Bench of Justice JJ Munir and Justice Indrajeet Shukla dismissed a petition filed by Sukaina Rizvi, a minor student of Tagore Public School in Prayagraj, who wanted to continue wearing a headscarf in Class XI.
The court said a school could enforce its dress code as long as it was uniform, non-discriminatory and intended to maintain discipline and institutional identity.
“So long as the dress code is uniform, bona fide, nondiscriminatory and intended to maintain discipline and institutional identity, the choice of the prescribed uniform primarily lies within the domain of the school,” the court said.
What is the Case?
Sukaina had attended the school from Class VI to Class X and said she had worn a headscarf during those years without objection. When she sought admission to Class XI, however, she alleged that the school was unwilling to admit her if she continued wearing it.
Through her mother, she approached the High Court seeking permission to wear the scarf in addition to the prescribed uniform.
She argued that wearing the headscarf was an essential part of her religious practice and that preventing her from doing so violated her constitutional rights, including those under Articles 14 and 19(1)(a).
The school disputed the claim, saying its uniform applied to every student and that allowing an additional item of clothing would amount to an exemption. Its principal also pointed out that other female students from the same religious community followed the prescribed uniform.
The court said the school’s previous tolerance of the headscarf did not prevent it from enforcing its uniform policy later.
It noted that the school had not changed its uniform and that the dispute concerned the student’s request to add a headscarf to clothing prescribed for all students.
The judges said uniforms can help maintain discipline, create a common institutional identity, reduce distinctions between students and foster a “religion-neutral atmosphere”.
Is a Hijab Mandatory in Islam?
The Bench said the petition did not provide sufficient factual or religious material to establish that wearing a headscarf in the classroom was obligatory or that not wearing one would fundamentally affect the student’s faith.
It referred to earlier rulings by the Kerala and Bombay High Courts and the Karnataka High Court’s 2022 Full Bench judgement, which held that wearing the hijab was not an essential religious practice in Islam.
Describing the Karnataka ruling as a “persuasive authority of great value”, the court said there was “no reason for us to take a different view”.
The judges also noted photographs showing other girls at the school, including students from the same religious community, wearing the prescribed uniform without a headscarf.
Allowing individual departures from a common dress code based on subjective grounds could undermine the purpose of a uniform and shift decisions on school discipline from institutions to individual students, the court said.
