Some Cities in France including Nice and Corsica had proposed a really controversial ban on the wearing the ‘burkini’. Actually, ‘Burkini’ is a dress code of Muslim Women that is a combination of ‘Burka and Bikini’ and is a kind of swimsuit. Now this ban has been overturned by France’s highest administrative court on Friday prompting a Right-wing backlash as mayors vowed to defy the ruling.
However, the Mayors of the towns that prohibited the Islamic swimsuit justified the bans on the grounds of public order and safety, hygiene or secularism. Religion and public life are strictly separated in France, which was the first European country to ban the Islamic full-face veil in 2011.
What the Ruling says given by French Top Administrative Court?
The council ruled that mayors overstepped their powers by introducing the bans this month amid growing anxiety over security after a series of terrorist attacks including the Bastille Day massacre of 86 people in Nice. The Judgement said that “The emotion and the anxieties resulting from the terrorist attacks and especially the one committed in Nice on July 14, are not sufficient to justify legally the prohibition.”
The ban “constituted a serious and manifestly illegal infringement of fundamental liberties”, it said, ruling that mayors “may only restrict freedoms if there are confirmed risks” to public safety, which it said was not the case with the burkini.
The State Council’s judgment suspended a ban in the Riviera resort of Villeneuve-Loubet and set a legal precedent for about 30 other towns that have also prohibited the full-body swimsuit worn by a minority of Muslim women.
