By TwoCircles.net staff reporter,
New Delhi: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has disallowed an Indian Air Force officer Aftab Ahmed Ansari to grow a beard. The court ruled that beard is not a ‘compulsive requirement of a person who professes Islam.
According to media reports, the ruling came on a 2005 lawsuit filed by Airman Aftab Ahmed Ansari who had decided to grow a beard while posted in Chandigarh and sought permission from his superior officers.
In 2005 when he returned after 40 days’ leave he had grown a beard. His superior officers asked him to shave off the beard. He moved the High Court and got a stay order.
A single-judge bench of Justice Pramod Kohli ruled that IAF personnel who do not sport a beard at the time of recruitment couldn’t grow one during service without prior permission.
The court observed: “Growing beards at the most can be stated to be a personal choice and the same is not a compulsive requirement of a person professing Islam. Even if it is presumed to be so, it can be regulated, restricted, if public order, morality and health so requires.”
The court also vacated a stay it had given earlier to the two – Ansari and Corporal Mohammed Zubair – allowing them to grow beards.
The Supreme Court had asked the High Court to give a judgment on the issue within three months after a special leave petition was filed by the IAF seeking vacation of the stay given earlier.
Ansari and Zubair, however, have decided to move a Division Bench of the same court contesting the ruling. They seem to be ready for a long legal battle.