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Today on 15th December, the Honorable Supreme Court has passed a judgment saying that men in the Air force cannot take the excuse of religion to keep a long beard. The Apex Court said that the rules of the Armed Forces are made with the objective of bringing uniformity and discipline among the officers. The Bench, led by Chief Justice of India T S Thakur, it further added that “the regulations are not meant to interfere in the religious rights of an individual, but to ensure discipline.”
It should be noted that the bench was hearing the case of an air craftsman Ansari Aftab Ahmed, who was terminated from the services for keeping a beard, and had filed a case seeking equality with Sikh community, who are allowed to wear long hair and turban.
Ahmed’s lawyer, Irshad Hanif had urged the court to fix a date of final hearing of this case, where a number of Muslim men had either been suspended from their service or had faced disciplinary action for keeping a beard.
Defending its move, the IAF told the Court that “all Muslims do not have a beard and the practice of growing beard is optional.” The force also said that “sporting a beard is not universally considered in the religion of Islam and hence it cannot be said that cutting of hair or shaving is prohibited in the Muslim religion.”
The current Defence Ministry policy of ‘hair, beard and wearing turbans’ as notified in the year 2003, allows “only those Muslim personnel to keep beard, who had kept beard along with moustache at the time of joining/ enrollment prior to January 1, 2002. Those who have grown beard after joining service must get rid of it.”
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