SC Rejects Muslim's Plea to Sport Beard, Says No 'Talibanisation Of India'

March 30, 2009

Author: Staff Writer

Source: SahilOnline

http://www.sahilonline.org/english/news.php?catID=nationalnews&nid=5006&viewed=0

Rejecting the plea of a Muslim student that he should be permitted to sport beard in his convent school, the Supreme Court on Monday observed secularism cannot be overstretched and that "Talibanisation" of the country cannot be permitted.

"We don't want to have talibans in the country. Tommorow a girl student may come and say that she wants to wear a burqa, can we allow it," Justice Markandeya Katju speaking for a bench headed by Justice Raveendran observed.

Asserting that he was a secularist to the core, Justice Katju however said religious beliefs cannot be overstretched.

"I am secularist. We should strike a balance between rights and personal beliefs. We cannot overstretch secularism," the judge known for his incisive remarks said.

Justice Katju passed the obsesrvation while dismsissing the petition of the student. Mohammad Salim of Nirmala Convent Higher Secondary School, a government-recognised minority institution in Madhya Pradesh, has sought quashing of the school regulation requiring students to be clean-shaven.