A Karnataka college’s decision in January to bar entry to six Muslim girls wearing the hijab had sparked a controversy that led to protests all over the state.
The matter soon reached the high court after some of the women protesters filed petitions arguing that the constitution guaranteed them the right to wear headscarves. After over a month of hearing the court upheld the ban on Hijab by educational institutions. This decision received a mixed response from the public and the Muslim community also called for a bandh in the state.
Amidst this controversy, a video is viral on social media with the claim that the Karnataka High Court has “stripped the lawyer” who was defending the petitioners in the Hijab row. In this 45-seconds long video recording, the Chief Justice can be seen reprimanding a lawyer for the suppression of material facts from the Hon’ble Court.
The court stripping the lawyer who was defending the petitioners on Hijab …. people must know how serious is this issue and how foolish the lawyer to bring this up to CJI Karnataka .. pic.twitter.com/eHkSOAcfnT
— Sehgal (@sudheer18799) March 18, 2022
The court stripping the lawyer who was defending the petitioners on Hijab …. people must know how serious is this issue and how foolish the lawyer to bring this up to CJI Karnataka .. pic.twitter.com/r5LDLsOYv8
— Alagesh Chelliah (@AlageshChelliah) March 18, 2022
The video is also viral on Facebook with the same claim.
Unrelated
We observed the video carefully and noticed that one of the judges is wearing a black mask and the time on the clock is 11:20 AM, there’s also a bearded man and another man with a moustache visible in the video.
Taking all these as clues, we rummaged through the videos available on the official YouTube channel of the Karnataka High Court and came across the original video. The hearing was live-streamed on March 3, 2022. The viral bit starts at 36:00 minutes.
We also noticed that only two judges can be seen in the video stream, meanwhile, the Hijab row matter was led by a three-judge bench. This itself suggests that this is not related to the Hijab case.
Alt News checked for the case on the official website of the High Court of Karnataka and found that the court proceeding documented in the viral video is completely unrelated to the hijab row and relates to a commercial appeal filed under Section 37 of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996. The matter was being heard in the Chief Justice’s courtroom.
Moreover, the claim that the advocate has been “stripped off” of his license is also incorrect as in the judgement order the court said that it did not wish to proceed with any actions considering the young age of the advocate.
Hence, a video in which the Karnataka High Court reprimanded a lawyer for the suppression of material facts in a commercial appeal was shared with a misleading claim to suggest that the matter was related to the Hijab row.
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