India
Hijab ban: BJP paid Rs 88 lakh to advocates who argued on behalf of Karnataka Govt, reveals report
Karnataka: The Bharatiya Janata party has paid Rs 88 lakh to advocates who argued on behalf of the BJP-led state government of Karnataka in Hijab ban case.
The government advocates include Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General of India KM Nataraj.
According to a report published by an investigative digital publication, The File, it was revealed that Mehta was paid Rs 39.60 lakh and Nataraj was paid Rs 48.40 lakh for arguing the case.
Tushar appeared in court nine times, while Narataj appeared in court eleven times in the case.
The two advocates received Rs 4.4 lakh per hearing as remuneration, the report claimed.
The Solicitor General of India is subordinate to the Attorney General for India and is the second highest law officer in the country.
At the beginning of February 2022, a dispute pertaining to school uniforms was reported in Karnataka, when Muslim students of a junior college who wanted to wear hijab to classes were denied entry.
Over the following weeks, the dispute spread to other schools and colleges across the state, with groups of Hindu right-wing students wearing saffron scarves harassing the Muslim students.
On 5 February, the Karnataka government issued an order stating that uniforms must be worn compulsorily where policies exist and no exception can be made for the wearing of the hijab.
Several educational institutions cited this order and denied entry to Muslim girls wearing the hijab.
