Former Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, who was part of a bench that upheld the hijab ban in the state, was on Monday appointed as the chairperson of the 22nd Law Commission that has been constituted after more than four years.
The commission had been vacant since August 31, 2018, when its 21st chairperson, former Supreme Court judge BS Chauhan, retired from his post, according to Live Law. The function of the law commission is to carry out research and advise the Union government on legal reforms.
Justice Awasthi headed the bench of the Karnataka High Court which pronounced the verdict in the hijab ban case on March 15. The court had held that the hijab is not essential to Islam and had dismissed all petitions filed against the state government’s ban on wearing headscarf in educational institutions.
The other members of the law commission are former Kerala High Court judge KT Sankaran, professors Anand Paliwal, DP Verma and Raka Arya, and M Karunanithi.
In October 2009, Justice Sankaran had directed the Union government and Kerala government to investigate alleged instances of “love jihad”, a conspiracy theory espoused by Hindutva activists who allege that it involves Muslim men forcibly converting Hindu women to Islam through marriage.
Later that month, the state director general of police had told the court that there was no evidence that any organisations were working on “love jihad”, The Hindu reported. The official had, however, said that the police had unconfirmed information that some groups were working amongst young persons to encourage conversions by using such means.
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