Putting the Essential Religious Practices Test through the Test of Essentiality: A Socio-legal Study through the Lens of the Hijab Verdicts in India

S. M. Aamir Ali

Deekshita Sriram

 

Abstract: The doctrine of Essential Religious Practices (hereinafter ERP) has seen ceremonious application in matters pertaining to religion and its practices, causing a shift in the empowerment of the supposed stakeholders from religious participants to the judiciary. Constantly fuelled by political interference and exploitation, the doctrine once propounded to complement the vision of a secular nation has come to witness arbitrary change, thereby leading to a dilution of constitutional values and human rights. In this article, the authors first decode the intangible idea of secularism, contextualised in an Indian scenario, followed by deliberating on the ’essential’ and ‘religious’ elements of the repeatedly invoked doctrine. A detailed analysis of tests surrounding similar questions of law has further been undertaken in comparative jurisprudence in light of the hijab verdicts given by the High Court of Karnataka and the Supreme Court of India. Such analysis has aided in forwarding alternatives to a politically contaminated doctrine, with a prudent aim to help prevent manipulated outcomes of multiple cases pending under this jurisprudence.