The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the sacking of an army officer, saying he is “misfit for the Indian Army”, after he refused to enter the army's all-faith place of worship along with his regimental colleagues by citing his belief in Christianity and monotheism.
“You are a complete misfit for the army. The army has a completely secular approach…. You have hurt the feelings of other soldiers,” a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi told senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, who defended Samuel Kamlesan on the ground that there was no Sarva Dharma Sthal, according to the officer, where he was posted in Punjab as a lieutenant in Squadron B that mostly has Sikh personnel.
The court was dealing with an appeal filed by Kamlesan challenging a Delhi High Court judgment that had earlier upheld his termination from the army for gross insubordination vis-à-vis failure to attend regimental parades and enter the Sarva Dharma Sthal, a place of worship in the army for all religions
and faiths, with his regiment colleagues.
Sankaranarayanan submitted that the place had a gurdwara and a temple but no church, and Kamlesan refrained from entering the Sthal because of his religious beliefs, which he claimed were protected under Article 25 of the Constitution.
Kamlesan was sacked by the authorities following his repeated defiance of the commanding officers and other superiors to attend the regimental parades and also enter the Sthal.
CJI Kant pointed out that the officer was merely asked to be present at the Sarva Dharma Sthal in a spirit of fraternal bonhomie and there was no imposition of any rituals or ceremonies on him. “If somebody asks you to perform rituals then it is fine, we can understand, but you are aware that there are no rituals in the gurdwara,” the CJI said.
The bench noted that even after counselling from a local Christian pastor that entering the Sthal would not go against the tenets of Christianity, the officer chose
to defy the directives from his superiors.
“If this is the attitude of an army officer then what to say? If there is a Sarva Dharma Sthal, how does it violate his religious rights or beliefs?” the bench asked the senior counsel.
The senior counsel said Kamlesan cannot be forced to follow the rituals of other communities, prompting the bench to remind him that no rituals were performed.
“You refuse to go just because there is a temple and a gurdwara there. Does it not amount to hurting the feelings of your soldiers?” the bench asked.