New Delhi: The meandering 10-day arguments on Karnataka's hijab row concluded on Thursday, with the counsel for Muslim petitioners making a last gasp effort to have the ban on the Islamic headscarf in classrooms lifted, insisting the state should be concerned more about education than an apparel.
They also flagged the pet 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' slogan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to buttress their point of women empowerment while remonstrating alleged attempts at stopping Muslim girls from attaining education by banning the hijab.
A number of counsel for the Muslim girls insisted during the often abrasive arguments that preventing them from wearing the hijab to the classroom will put their education in jeopardy as they might stop attending classes.
After the arguments put forth by the counsel for the Muslim girls, the apex court reserved its verdict on a batch of pleas challenging the Karnataka High Court judgement refusing to lift the ban on hijab in educational institutions.
An exasperated bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia had on Wednesday asked the counsel appearing for the petitioners to wrap up their rebuttal arguments within an hour on Thursday, saying "we are losing our patience" and that there was an "overdose of hearing".