Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: August 28, 2022 at 16:56 IST
On Monday, August 29, the Supreme Court of India will hear two significant cases: the appeals against the Karnataka High Court’s decision upholding the right of educational institutions to prohibit the wearing of the hijab on college campuses and the bail request made by Kerala journalist and UAPA accused Siddique Kappan.
The Hijab case will be heard by a Bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia, while the bail application of Siddique Kappan will be heard by a Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) UU Lalit and Justice S Ravindra Bhat.
The appeal of Bhima Koregaon accused Gautam Navlakha against the Bombay High Court’s rejection of his request to be relocated from Taloja Prison and instead be placed under house arrest will also be heard on Monday.
A Bench comprising of Justice Bhat and CJI UU Lalit will also hear this case.
One of the first developments after Justice UU Lalit took the oath of office as CJI on Saturday is the listing of these cases.
On March 15, the Karnataka High Court upheld a Karnataka government order (GO) that effectively gave college development committees of government colleges in the State the authority to prohibit Muslim female students from wearing hijabs on college campuses.
Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justices Krishna S. Dixit and J.M. Khazi comprised three-Judge Bench that held.
While travelling to Hathras to cover the gang-rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit girl, Kappan, a reporter for the Malayalam news site Azhimukham and secretary of the Delhi chapter of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ), was arrested in Uttar Pradesh in October 2020 along with three other individuals.
Justice Krishan Pahal, a single judge, rejected the plea, stating that the prosecution had made a prima facie case that the defendant’s travel with a co-accused who was not a member of the media fraternity and the use of tainted funds by him and his colleagues were significant factors in the prosecution’s case.
This has led to the appeal before the top court.
Navlakha has appealed a Bombay High Court decision that denied his request to be relocated from Taloja Prison and gave him home arrest in its place.
Human rights activist Navlakha, a former secretary of the People’s Union for Democratic Rights, was arrested in August 2018 but was first put under house arrest.
However, a Bench of Justices SB Shukre and GA Sanap rejected the argument, which led to an appeal to the Supreme Court.