No reason to continue suit against Kulliyya over banning face veil in class, rules High Court

The High Court has ruled that there was no reason to continue a lawsuit filed against the Kulliyathul Dhirasathul Islamiyya school by a student who was instructed to remove her face veil in class, or be expelled.

Rector of Kulliyathul Dhirasathul Islamiyya,Dr Ibrahim Zakariyya Moosa, reportedly told Mehenaz Hussein last year that her face veil should be removed in class or face being expulsion if she refused to do so.

The High Court said the Attorney General (AG) had advised the court that the article banning the face veil in class had now been removed from the regulation and the student, identified by the court as Mehenaz Hussein, was now attending classes wearing the face veil.

After the article banning the face veil was removed Mehenaz was no longer banned from wearing the face veil in class, the High Court ruling said.

The High Court Judges Shuaib Hussein Zakariyya, Abdulla Hameed and Ali Sameer were the presiding judges.

The case was first presented to the Civil Court and the Civil Court also ruled that there was no capacity to continue the case as a suit related to the same case was filed in the High Court at the time.

Dr Zakariyya reportedly told the girl that studying was compulsory under Islam, and that if wearing the face veil obstructed her from studying, she should not wear it even if it was a Sunnah.

Mehenaz told an online religious newspaper at the time that Dr Zakariyya had told her that in different parts of the country terrorists had used the hijab to hide weapons, and that there was “no way to identify the sex of a person wearing the full hijab”.

Speaking in a hearing of the case in February, current Attorney General Aishath Azima Shukoor told the court that up to date Kulliyathul Dhirasathul Islamiyya did not have a specific uniform to wear and that she believed that students should be allowed to attend classes wearing face veil.

At the time, Azima also told the court that the regulations would be amended within a week to allow students to wear the face veil in class.

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