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High Court tells Muslim army
officers: You can't keep beards
WSN Network
Chandigarh:
Muslims will take this judgement with a pinch of salt though few
voices were heard in Indian media. Two Muslim Air Force personnel
were declined permission to retain their beards by the Punjab and
Haryana High Court that said there will be chaos if Muslims in armed
forces were permitted to behave as per their wishes and desires.
Now, it seems
the fight will continue as Navkiran Singh, the lawyer for Aaftab
Ahmed and Mohammed Zubair, said a review petition would be filed
shortly before the Division Bench to challenge the July 14 ruling of
Justice Permod Kohli.
Aaftab had
joined the Air Force in December 2001 as an airman. When he joined
the IAF, he did not sport a beard. In January 2005, he informed his
seniors that he wanted to grow a beard. Though the IAF provisionally
allowed him to keep the beard, within a month it withdrew the order
and directed him to shave it off.
It was this
order that Aaftab has challenged in the court.
While his
petition was pending, another airman Zubair moved the court,
challenging the
October 26,
2005, order of the IAF asking him to shave off his beard. The
petitioner contended that as per Islam, he had to grow a beard. The
contention was strongly contested by the Union Government.
What went
against the airmen was the 2003 policy of the IAF that stated:
"Muslim personnel who kept a beard along with a moustache at the
time of commission/enrollment prior to
January 1, 2002,
would be allowed to continue to keep the beard and moustache."
In his ruling,
Justice Kohli said: "These policy letters clearly prescribe the
object and purpose for which such restrictions were imposed. The
object is not to impose any restriction or curb on any
individual/individual group adhering to religious practices."
The court cited
rulings of other High Courts wherein similar petitions filed by
Muslim policemen in
South India were
dismissed.
In yet another
order, the Supreme Court had on October 4, 2005, rejected the
petition of a Sikh serving in the IAF who wanted to keep his beard
flowing.
The High Court
pointed out that if "judicially/judiciously noticed" all Muslims did
not sport a beard. "Universal practice also shows that all Muslims
do not carry a beard. It can, thus, be safely concluded that
sporting a beard is not an integral part of the Islamic religious
tenet and it is not practised under Article 25 of the Constitution.
If members of the disciplined force are permitted to behave
according to their own wishes and desires, it is surely to disturb
the public order in the force and may create chaotic conditions,"
Justice Kohli held.
Another question
that needed to be determined was if the practice of growing a beard
was an essential tenet of Islam and if any restriction imposed by
the guidelines violated Article 25 of the Constitution.
In this
connection, Justice Kohli said: "No material has been placed on
record by the petitioner to support the contention that sporting a
beard is an integral part of the religious faith of Muslims or is
compulsive. To the contrary, the petitioner has stated that he
started sporting the beard while on leave and before he joined the
IAF he was a clean shaven."
Quoting the five
fundamental principles of Islam, the court ruled that growing the
beard did not fall in any of the commandments that a devout Muslim
was under obligation to observe.
23
July, 2008
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