The Madras High Court held in an order earlier this month that Muslim policemen in Tamil Nadu are allowed to maintain trimmed and tidy beards on duty.

Justice L Victoria Gowri passed the ruling on July 5 while hearing the case of a police constable, G Abdul Khadar Ibrahim, who was punished for appearing before a superior officer with a beard after he returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca. The order was made public on Tuesday.

Ibrahim’s counsel argued that as per the Madras Police Gazette of 1957, Muslim officials were allowed to have beards. The court accepted the argument, and said that the authorities could not punish Muslim policemen “for maintaining a beard which they do throughout their lives by following the commandments of Prophet Mohammed”.

Justice Gowri remarked: “India being a land of diverse religions and customs, the beauty and uniqueness of the land vest in the diversity of the citizen’s beliefs and cultures.”

Ibrahim was in 2018 granted leave for 31 days so that he could go on a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, the two holiest sites of Islam. When he returned to India, he asked for his leave to be extended because of an infection in his left leg. An assistant commissioner, however, refused to extend his leave and questioned him about his beard.

A year later, the deputy commissioner of police framed charges against Ibrahim for not returning to duty after his leave ended, and for wearing a beard – which he claimed was in violation of the Madras Police Gazette.

In 2021, the deputy commissioner of police directed that Ibrahim’s increment be stopped for three years and future increments be postponed as punishment. The constable made an appeal before the Madurai commissioner of police.

The city police chief, in an order passed on June 10, 2021, reduced the punishment, halting Ibrahim’s increments for two years, after which normal pay would be given.

Ibrahim challenged the commissioner of police’s order in the High Court.

The High Court said on July 5 that the punishment imposed by the city police chief was “shockingly disproportionate” and quashed the order passed in June 2021. It remanded the matter back to the commissioner and directed the officer to pass appropriate orders according to the law.