Muslim soldier from Karnataka terminated by Army for growing beard

[email protected] (CD Network)
June 3, 2016

Bengaluru, Jul 3: The Indian Army, which allows Sikhs to wear beard and turban in uniform, has terminated a Muslim solider and termed him an undesirable soldier' just because he insisted on growing a beard on religious grounds.

soldier34-year-old Maktum Husen, a resident of Dharwad in Karnataka, was a sepoy in the Army Medical Corps for nearly 10 years from 2001, when he first sought permission from his Commanding Officer (CO) to have a beard on religious grounds.

The CO allowed him on the condition that he get a new identity card and retain the look for the rest of his service. Shortly afterwards, however, he discovered that the original rules — Army headquarters letters of 1951 and 1978, based on which he gave his nod — had been superseded by amendments to Regulation No. 665 of the Defence Services Regulations and the Ministry of Defence (Army) letter, 1991.

Under the amended rules, those other than Sikhs cannot sport a permanent beard. Citing this, the CO revoked his order and asked Mr. Maktumhusen to comply. The jawan refused and moved the Karnataka High Court, terming the order discriminatory.'

Mr. Maktumhusen was, meanwhile, transferred to Command Hospital, Pune. His CO there also asked him to get rid of his beard. When he refused, a show cause notice followed, after which he was sentenced to 14 days detention for disobedience. The soldier paid no heed to further instructions, and the Army discharged him from service as an undesirable soldier' after an enquiry.

Sikhs can; Muslims can't!

The Armed Forces Tribunal was not swayed by the contention of his counsel, C.R. Ramesh, that he had the right to grow a beard (under Article 25 of the Constitution on religious freedom) and that he should have rights on par with Sikhs.

The Tribunal said that having a beard was not among the fundamental tenets' of Islam. “The Army is a disciplined force and denominational differences among its members based on religion, caste etc. cannot be permitted. Practice of wearing a beard claimed on the basis of religion by the applicant, which goes against Regulation 665 of the Defence Service Regulations, is not conducive to the discipline of the Force,” it said.

Comments

Muhammad Haneef
 - 
Sunday, 5 Jun 2016

Why do you drag Modi to every issue, what has he got to do with the article/rule set before he even became the PM. common guys be just in your claim. !!!

Muhammad Haneef

aharkul
 - 
Saturday, 4 Jun 2016

Intolerance.. In future India will loose the respect from outside country due to this type of behavior.

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News Network
January 12,2020

 Bengaluru, Jan 12: Two pilgrims from Bengaluru, who were siblings, drowned in sea off Auro Beach in Puducherry today.

The deceased have been identified as V Gauthman, 22, and his brother Vivek, 20.

Gauthman and Vivek were among a group of around 150 devotees from Bengaluru to the Adhiparasakhi temple at Melmaruvathur in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu. They started their journey from Bengaluru in three buses on Friday.

After offering special puja at Adhiparasakthi temple and worshipping at a few other temples, they reached Auro Beach on Sunday afternoon. 

While they were having lunch on the beach, Gauthman entered the sea. He was caught in a huge wave.

Vivek, who tried to rescue his brother, too was caught in the wave.

Other pilgrims and fishermen began to search for them in fishing boats.

After an hour, their bodies were washed ashore, around two km from the spot.

The Auroville police retrieved the bodies and sent them for postmortem.

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News Network
March 11,2020

Mangaluru, Mar 11: Nitte Education Trust is among the top 50 reputed institutions in the country selected by NITI Aayog for setting up Atal Incubation Centre under Union government's Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) scheme.

NITI Aayog has sanctioned Rs 9 Crore to Nitte Education Trust for setting up a full-fledged Incubation Centre at Nitte, of which Rs 2.5 crores has been received as first instalment according to a press release here on Wednesday.

Atal Incubation Centre- Nitte provides start-ups with valuable guidance, technological aid, access to investors, networking and facilitating a host of other services required for start-ups to survive and scale. Start-ups also receive direction through the robust chain of mentors who give sector-specific information and real-time practical guidance.

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 4,2020

Mangaluru, May 4: No major crowds were seen in the coastal city of Mangaluru today except in front of the liquor shops after the district administration relaxed the lockdown norms for 12 hours a day (between 7am and 7pm).

There was no mad rush of vehicles either on city roads when the relaxed lockdown began. There were fewer people to buy essentials in front of grocery and vegetable shops as they had time till late evening.

There was no let down in the number of police pickets as well as curbs on vehicular movement across the city either. 

The government has allowed sale of liquor in CL2 (standalone wine shops) and CL 11 (MSIL outlets) to mop up revenues when Lockdown-3 commenced from Monday. Compared the other parts of Karnataka, the size of queues in front of liquor shops in Mangaluru were smaller. 

Like other parts of the country, the lockdown was imposed in the coastal district on March 24 to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Prior to that, a curfew was imposed in the district from March 22 midnight. The lockdown did not apply to essential services such as sale of food, groceries, milk, vegetables, fruits, and meat and fish. Gradually the district administration had to intensify the lockdown and allow those shops to remain open only between 7 a.m. and 12 noon. 

With the lockdown relaxation extending till 7 p.m., Mangaluru today witnessed people and private vehicles moving freely in the afternoon for the first time in more than a month. However, only those who had to go for work and do other essential activities were seen on roads. After 7 p.m. movements of all kinds of vehicles will be prohibited. 

The relaxation was to facilitate economic activities that had come to a standstill during the first two phases of lockdown. Mangaluru City Police Commissioner Dr P S Harsha, meanwhile, warned the people against misusing lockdown relaxation and venturing out without any genuine reason.

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