-Junputh.com Public Release of ‘Impact of Hijab Ban in Karnataka’s Educational Institutions: An Interim Study Report’ by People’s Union for Civil Liberties – Karnataka (PUCL – K) In December, 2021, the Government PU College in Udupi, Karnataka prohibited six girls from attending classes after they came to the institution wearing the hijab. Similar restrictions began to be placed in other institutions in various districts and the issue soon escalated across college campuses...

-TheWire.in One of the oddities of the ongoing hijab ban case, is how a secular court has to decide whether wearing a hijab is mandated by Islam. One cannot fault the Karnataka high court beyond a point, as it is merely following ‘Essential Religious Practices Test’ laid down by the Supreme Court of India. Courts use this test to determine whether a practice is essential to the religion, in order to decide...

-Livemint.com The coexistence of people of multiple faiths, often in close proximity, is often seen as one of the successes of modern India. A new report shows that deep suspicion and even antipathy underlies this coexistence. Indians profess respect for all religions but want to live their own lives among co-religionists, a new survey conducted by the Pew Research Centre shows. A majority across religions believe that stopping inter-religious marriage should be...

-The Hindu The Matuas became a significant political entity after the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003, came into being On a sultry April day, Thakurnagar, the holy site of Matuas in the Bongaon sub-division of West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district bordering Bangladesh, sizzles with banners of rival political parties asking for votes. As if indifferent to the ongoing political tension and the pandemic threat, a boisterous religious rally makes its way through...

-The Indian Express Section 5 of the Special Marriage Act, the legislation that allows solemnisation of marriages irrespective of the religion of the couple, requires parties to give a 30-day public notice of their intention to marry. In a judgment removing hindrances to inter-faith marriages, and likely to have a bearing on the set of laws enacted by BJP-ruled states including Uttar Pradesh that prohibit religious conversion for marriage, the Allahabad High...