The Supreme Court on Monday said a three-judge bench would be constituted to deal with the case related to the wearing of hijab in Karnataka schools following a split verdict.

“I will examine it. This is a three-judge bench matter, so it has to go before a three-judge bench. We will allot a date,” a bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud told senior advocate Meenakshi Arora appearing for some girl students from Karnataka.

Arora submitted that an interim order was needed in view of the practical exams scheduled for some classes from February 6 in the state.

She informed the bench, also comprising Justice V. Ramasubramanian and J.B.Pardiwala, that a large number of girl students had shifted to private colleges following the split verdict of the apex court in October. Since practical exams can only be held in government colleges, an “interim direction was needed so that the affected girl students may appear in the exams with hijab”, she submitted.

On October 13, a twojudge bench of the Supreme Court had delivered a split verdict on whether students have a fundamental right to wear hijab or any other religious clothing in classrooms, and referred the matter for consideration by a larger bench.

The apex court could not arrive at a unanimous decision against the Karnataka High Court judgment in March that upheld a ban on hijab in classrooms in BJPruled Karnataka. The high court had dismissed petitions filed by a section of Muslim students of the Government Pre-University Girls College in Karnataka’s Udupi seeking permission to wear hijab inside classrooms, ruling that it was not a part of the essential religious practice in Islam.

The apex court bench presided by Justice Hemant Gupta (since retired) had upheld the ban on hijab saying: “Fraternity would be defeated if the students are permitted to carry their apparent religious symbols with them to the classroom.”

Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, the other judge on the bench, had quashed the ban as “unconstitutional”, saying: “All the petitioners want is to wear a hijab. Is it too much to ask in a democracy?”

The 216-page verdict said: “In view of the divergent views expressed by the bench, the matter be placed before the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India for constitution of an appropriate bench.”