Nine students have approached the Bombay High Court to contest their college's directive prohibiting the wearing of hijab, burka, and naqab in the classroom.

In their petition, the students argued that the ban imposed by Chembur Trombay Education Society's NG Acharya and DK Marathe College is "arbitrary, unreasonable, unlawful, and perverse."

A bench headed by Justice AS Chandurkar will hear the petition next week.

According to the plea, a notice along with a message was circulated on May 1 in the college's WhatsApp group, which includes faculty members and students, enforcing a dress code that restricts wearing the burka, naqab, hijab, badges, caps, and stoles.

The petitioners, who are second and third-year degree students, described the directive as "nothing but a colorable exercise of power."

The naqab, burka, and hijab are integral to the petitioners' religious beliefs, and imposing a ban on them violates their fundamental rights, the plea argued.

Initially, the petitioners requested the college management and principal to revoke the restrictions on the naqab, burka, and hijab, allowing them "as a matter of right of choice, dignity, and privacy in the classroom."

They also brought their grievance to the attention of the chancellor and vice-chancellor of the University and the University Grants Commission, seeking their intervention "to uphold the spirit of imparting education to all citizens without discrimination."

However, receiving no response, the students filed a petition in the High Court, arguing that the notice was issued without any legal authority and was therefore unlawful, null, and void.

The plea sought the High Court to quash the notice.