Cannot allow student to write exam due to low-attendance: Bombay-HC
The Bombay HC today said it cannot allow a homeopathy student to appear for her first-year repeat examinations as she was held ineligible by the college due to poor attendance. Fakeha Badami, in her petition filed earlier this week, claimed that her attendance was poor because her college did not allow her to attend lectures as she wears the hijab.
College letting her appear for second repeat exams
"The college is letting her appear for the second repeat exams, scheduled in December this year, provided she attends all the repeat lectures conducted till November," said the college's lawyer Sahil Salvi. The court accepted this statement and hoped the student attends all the lectures and the college allows her to wear a hijab. To this, Salvi said the hijab was never an issue.
Badami had written letters to Ministry of AYUSH
As per her petition, Badami had in 2016 enrolled in the Bachelor of Homoeopathic Medicine and Surgery course in Sai Homoeopathic Medical College, which was affiliated to the Maharashtra University of Health Services (MUHS). She and several other students who wore hijab were prohibited from entering the college premises, said the petition. Badami then wrote letters to the MUHS and the Ministry of AYUSH.
College did not budge even after AYUSH wrote back
AYUSH Ministry told the college that it cannot compel a student to not wear the hijab. But, the college didn't budge. Badami first approached the HC in November 2017 when she was not allowed to appear for the examinations held then. The college had then told the HC that it would accommodate her in the repeater examinations to be held in the 2018 summers.
Other Muslim students stopped wearing hijab or left the college
However, Badami was allowed to attend the repeater lectures only from March this year and was again barred from appearing for the repeater exams on the ground of poor attendance, said the petition. The other Muslim students had either stopped wearing the hijab to the college or had left the institution. But she continued to wear the hijab and was being harassed.
