Indian court rejects Muslim student’s plea to wear hijab with school uniform

A teenage Muslim schoolgirl in India has been denied the right to wear her hijab to school after a High Court ruled she had failed to prove that wearing the headscarf constitutes an “essential religious practice” of Islam. The ruling was issued by the Allahabad High Court in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and has renewed debate over religious freedom, Muslim women’s rights and school dress codes in India. According to a consensus of Islamic scholars, hijab is obligatory on Muslim females once they reach puberty. The case was brought by Sukaina Rizvi, who is 15 or 16,...