School wins appeal over Muslim dress

A school which excluded a Muslim pupil for wearing traditional dress has won its appeal at the House of Lords.

Shabina Begum, now 17, had previously won her case against Denbigh High School at the Court of Appeal.

However, the House of Lords overturned that decision today.

Denbigh High School, where over 70% of the pupils are Muslim, had excluded Shabina in 2002 after she insisted on wearing a jilbab, a full-length Islamic dress to school.

Shabina had previously won the shalwar kameez - trousers and a tunic - which had been adopted into the school's uniform policy in order to incorporate all faiths. However, Shabina had argued that it was inappropriate to wear the shalwar kameez because she had reached sexual maturity.

Shabina took her case to court, arguing that disallowing her to wear the jilbab was an infringement of her human rights.

At today's ruling, the Law Lords decided that Denbigh High had taken "immense pains" to devise a uniform policy that respected Muslim beliefs. They said that the school had done so in an "inclusive, unthreatening and uncompetitive way". "The rules laid down were as far from being mindless as uniform rules could ever be," the Law Lords said.

(KMcA/GB)