A homoeopathy student has moved the Bombay High Court after her college disallowed her to write exams due to poor attendance, which, she claimed, was because she was barred from attending classes as she wears the hijab (headscarf). 

Fakeha Badami, a resident of suburban Bandra, is a student of Sai Homoeopathic Medical College, located at the Bhiwandi township, Thane district. In the petition filed earlier this week, she claimed that the college prohibited all Muslim students from wearing the hijab on its premises. 

Badami enrolled for the Bachelor of Homoeopathic Medicine and Surgery course in the college, affiliated to the Maharashtra University of Health Services (MUHS) in 2016. She had written letters to the MUHS and the Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) which asked the college to resolve the issue, saying it cannot compel a student to not wear the hijab. But, the college did not budge, said the petition. 

The student had first approached the high court in November 2017 when she was not allowed to appear for the examinations held then. The college had then told the high court that it would accommodate her in the repeater lectures and examinations that will be held in the summers of 2018. Despite this, she was allowed to attend the repeater lectures only from March this year and was again barred from appearing for the repeater exams on the ground of poor attendance, Badami claimed in the petition. 

A vacation bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and Ajey Gadkari will hear the petition on May 25.