On Thursday (January 27), the Kerala authorities has made it clear that the Student Police Cadets (SPC) can not put on hijab, scarf or full sleeves over their uniform. SPC Project is an initiative by the Kerala police in collaboration with the federal government to make kids aware about legal guidelines, self-discipline and civic sense.
The improvement comes days after an eighth Std pupil of GHSS Kuttiady named Riza Nahan moved the Kerala High Court, alleging that she wasn’t allowed to participate within the parade for sporting a full sleeve uniform with a hijab. In her petition, she claimed that it was her ‘fundamental right’ to put on hijab and full sleeves. Riza had claimed that she was stopped from collaborating within the parade attributable to modifications in her uniform.
The Kerala High Court had sought the response of the State on the matter. The Joint Secretary of the Kerala Home Department knowledgeable that the addition of spiritual symbols to the uniform of SPC could be inappropriate. The official added that non secular exemptions in a single case would ship throughout a incorrect message and encourage comparable calls for by different teams.
He emphasised, “Combining religious matters with uniforms in the present situation would raise the same demands in other similarly functioning forces, which would question the discipline and secular survival of the forces…Therefore, it is not appropriate to give any indication such that the religious symbols are highlighted in the uniform under the Student Police Cadet project.” It was additionally identified that no such calls for have been made about such modifications to the SPC uniform up to now 10 years.
As per reviews, the Home Department additionally acknowledged that it was not obligatory for the scholars to hitch the police cadets. It highlighted that permitting exemptions in uniform will intervene with the secular nature of the establishment. One of the targets behind the creation of the Student Police Cadets Project was to nurture a technology that positioned nation over the non secular background.
