Karnataka: 2 Arrested For 'Death Threats' To Judges Over Hijab Verdict

Two men from Tamil Nadu have been arrested for issuing death threats to Karnataka high court judges who delivered the ‘hijab verdict’ that upheld a ban on female students wearing the Islamic headscarf in schools.

The arrested individuals have been identified as Kovai Rahmathullah and S Jamal Mohammed Usmani.

In its verdict, a three-judge bench of Karnataka High Court said that hijab is not an essential practice of Islam and exclusion of the headscarf comes under reasonable restriction.

The court also upheld a state government order asking students to follow the uniform mandated by educational institutions.

Since the announcement of the verdict, several religious minority community outfits have been protesting across Tamil Nadu against the judgment. On Thursday, a video clip of one such protest meeting in Tamil Nadu's Madurai surfaced which shows Tamil Nadu Tawheed Jamath (TNTJ) auditing committee member Kovai Rahmathullah purportedly saying that a judge who gave a 'wrong' verdict was killed during his morning walk in Jharkhand.

"There are some emotional people in our community," he said.

"If something happens to them (Karnataka HC judges), BJP is waiting for an opportunity to blame us,” he added.

Meanwhile, police registered cases against the two more people TNTJ Madurai district president Habibullah and vice president Asan Badshah, who had organised the meeting.

In Thanjavur, police arrested TNTJ headquarters speaker S Jamal Mohammed Usmani on Friday and booked the outfit's Thanjavur district leader Rajik Mohammed for making derogatory remarks against Karnataka HC judges, PM Modi, home minister Amit Shah and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

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