It arises from a ban in February by the southern state of Karnataka that forbade students to wear the headgear in classrooms, unleashing protests by Muslim students and their parents, as well as counter-protests by Hindu students.

“We have a divergence of opinion,” said Justice Hemant Gupta, one of the two panel judges, as he delivered Thursday’s decision, but the judges did not say when the larger bench would be set up, or when the next hearing would be held.

Muslims are a sizeable minority in India, accounting for 13% of the population of 1.4 billion in the south Asian nation where Hindus make up the majority.

Some Muslim students challenged the Supreme Court ruling by a state court that upheld the ban in March.

Critics of the ban say it is another way of marginalising a community, and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, which rules Karnataka, could benefit from the polarisation.