Amid the ongoing controversy around the mandatory hijab in Iran and the ban on it in schools in Karnataka, the European Union’s (EU) top court on Thursday said that corporations and businesses may restrict the wearing of hijabs or headscarves as long as it is part of a broader prohibition. The Court was hearing a case relating to a Muslim lady who was notified that she could not wear a hijab when she applied for a six-week work internship at a Belgian company.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) maintained that a general prohibition on a headscarf is not discriminatory against workers on religious grounds and does not violate EU law. According to the reports, the woman said that she was not allowed to wear a hijab when she applied for a traineeship program at a Belgian company.
However, the company stated that it has a neutrality rule under which all kinds of head coverings are banned inside its premises including hats, caps, or headscarves. The woman took her grievance to a Belgian court who eventually referred the case to the CJEU for clarification on the EU law. The top court ruled on October 13 that a general ban on hats and headwear does not violate EU law.
According to the CJEU, there should not be any direct discrimination in such a ban. “The internal rule of an undertaking prohibiting the visible wearing of religious, philosophical or spiritual signs does not constitute direct discrimination if it is applied to all workers in a general and undifferentiated way”, the judges were quoted. However, now the Belgian court has to decide whether the ban constitutes indirect discrimination.
Notably, last year, the CJEU had ruled that EU companies could prohibit their employees from wearing headscarves under specific situations if they were required to portray a neutral image to clients. There are many countries including France, Germany and Netherlands who have imposed ban on hijab in public places or in schools and other educational institutions.
France was the first European country to prohibit the niqab and burqa from being donned in public places. Meanwhile, in Germany, the question of hijab ban mostly affects aspiring teachers in public schools and trainee judges. Niqabs and burqas are also prohibited in schools, hospitals, and public transportation in the Netherlands.
The recent decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) came amid the ongoing controversy in India around the hijab ban in Karnataka educational institutions. Yesterday, the two-judge bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia of the Supreme Court of India delivered a split verdict on the Karnataka hijab case. While Justice Gupta upheld the ban on Hijab in education institutes and dismissed the appeals challenging the Karnataka High Court order, Justice Dhulia allowed it.
Justice Hemant Gupta upheld the ban by dismissing the 26 appeals filed against the judgment of the Karnataka High Court which held that hijab was not an essential practice of Islam and allowed the ban on wearing headscarves in educational institutions in the State. Meanwhile, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, expressed “divergence in opinion.” He set aside the Karnataka High Court judgment and held that the entire concept of essential religious practice was not essential to the dispute. Owing to this difference of opinion, the Supreme Court bench has placed the matter before the Chief Justice of India for ‘appropriate directions’.
On the other hand, millions of young women in Iran are protesting against the mandatory hijab rule in the Islamic nation, following the killing of Mahsa Amini by the police after she was detained for wearing hijab improperly. While the protests have spread to the entire nation, around 200 people have been killed in brutal police action to contain the protests, including several children.
