Anatomising the Hijab Row through the Lens of Intersectionality, Indirect Discrimination, and the Test of Essentiality

It is an unfortunate and bitter truth that, even today, clothing continues to dictate the lives of women who continue to constantly fall prey to the frequent targets of religious restrictions across the world. Their clothing is recurrently presumed too religious or not religious enough across several countries. These constraints usually take the form of individual or group harassment, but they can also take the form of formal government acts. Recently, the Karnataka State Government's pre-university education department has issued a directive using Section 133(2) of the Karnataka Education Act, 1933, prohibiting any female Muslim student from wearing hijab at educational institutions within its jurisdiction. However, in spite of the extensive nationwide protests against the directive, little attention has been given to the intersectional dimension of the discrimination meted out against Muslim women in particular. This paper aims to analyse the Hijab Row through the lens of Intersectionality and the test of essentiality. Furthermore, and as a natural extension, it aims to critically analyse why the Hijab row is also a distinct case of indirect discrimination.