Karnataka: Hijab Verdict Bench To Get Y Category Security After Life Threat Video Message Goes Viral

The Karnataka government has announced Y category security to the three judges of the bench that pronounced the verdict in the Hijab row last week.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai informed media of the decision saying “Anti-national forces that threaten the law and order system of the country will not be tolerated. There have been murder threats issued against the three judges including the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High court and a case has been registered against the same,”.

“Everyone is required to abide by the decisions of the court. There are opportunities to appeal at the higher court but these divisive forces are trying to make these provocative statements and incite people,” said Bommai elaborating on the verdict and its outcome, as quoted by One India.

A case has been registered in Tamil Nadu. The Bar council of Karnataka High Court has filed a case at the Vidhan Soudha Police station in Bengaluru.

As reported by Live Law, complainant advocate Sudha Katwa, in her complaint said that she had received a video message in Tamil threatening the judges in the hijab case, with a reference to the murder of an additional judge in Jharkhand when he was out on his morning walk.

“The above hate speech not only provokes hatred among the members of the society but also directly targets the judiciary and legal community,” says the complaint as reported.

Meanwhile Bommai also questioned the silence of the ‘fake seculars’ and accused them of appeasement that qualifies as communalism and not secularism. Bommai said such incidents threaten the democracy of the country and while assuring that the government will take necessary action, he also called for a public condemnation of such incidents.

Tamil Nadu police on Saturday had arrested two men Kovai Rahmatullah and S Jamal Mohammed Usmani, who made the veiled threats at a meeting organised in Madurai on Thursday. The meeting was organised by a Muslim organisation named Tamil Nadu Tawheed Jamath (TNTJ). Rahmatullah is reportedly its auditing committee member while Usmani is its headquarters speaker.

The three member bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justices Krishna S Dixit and Jaibunnisa Moinuddin Khazi had delivered the verdict that held that hijab was not an essential religious practice of Islam and prohibited the sporting of any apparel that could disturb peace, harmony and public order.

The Supreme Court is yet to list the petition challenging the High Court verdict for hearing and had said it would do so post the Holi vacations.