After death threat, Karnataka HC judges, who delivered Hijab verdict, given 'Y' category security

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday said the state government will provide Y-category security to three judges of the Karnataka High Court, including Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, who recently dismissed pro-hijab petitions.

"The government has decided to give Y-category security to the three judges of the Karnataka High Court who gave verdict on hijab," he told reporters here.

Bommai's statement comes in the light of a death threat issued by Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath's leader Covai Rahmatullah while addressing a public gathering in Madurai on Thursday.

CM said a complaint has been lodged with Vidhan Sabha police and instructions given to the Director General of Police to immediately investigate the matter thoroughly and take the accused into custody.

"We cannot tolerate such anti-national acts of anti-national people. We have to repress this act," he said.

Launching a severe attack on pseudo-secularists, Bommai said being in favour of one particular community's aggression is not secularism, but communalism.

"Please break the silence and condemn the act (issuing threats to kill judges). We need to stand together and protest against this act. It is because of the judiciary that law and order is intact. If we don't condemn it, it will have serious repercussions on democratic fabric of the country," he said.

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday dismissed various petitions challenging a ban on hijab during class hours in education institutions and upheld that wearing hijab is not an essential religious practice of Islam.

On Saturday, Tamil Nadu Police had arrested Rahmatullah and Jamal Mohammed Usmani from Tirunelveli and Thanjavur, respectively. A video of Rahmatullah, who is Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath leader, had gone viral, wherein he is seen threatening to kill the judges like a judge was killed during a morning walk in Jharkhand.

The police also registered a case against two more people, TNTJ Madurai district president Habibullah and vice-president Asan Batshah, who had organised the meeting.

Meanwhile, Bengaluru police on Saturday registered an FIR against Rahmatullah. In a complaint to the police, Sudha Katwa, a lawyer by profession, said she received a shocking video in Tam Chief Justice and other two judges in the wake of recent judgement on hijab.

Katwa alleged that the video seems to have originated from Tamil Nadu in open public meeting, wherein the speaker (Rahmatullah) refers to the murder of a judge while walking in Jharkhand state.

The speaker makes a similar threat to Karnataka CJ by stating people know where he goes for walking, Katwa said.

Further, she said, the speaker makes reference to the Allahabad High Court from where he is transferred to Karnataka High Court and also his visit to Udupi Mutt with family members.

Katwa alleged that the speaker addresses CJ in singular language and openly challenges to file any case against him and addresses the court verdict in a very vulgar language.

The hate speech not only spreads hatred in society but also directly targets the judiciary and legal community, she said.

Notably, the three-member bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Awasthi, Justices Krishna Dixit and Jaibunnisa M Kazi, recently dismissed the pleas seeking wearing of hijab during classes by noting that it is not an essential religious practice of Islam.

The Court also upheld the government order asking the educational institutions to implement dress code where ever it has been enforced. (UNI)