Srinagar, Dec. 27: Shave off your beard or face action.

Jammu’s Police Training College has been accused of pressuring new Muslim recruits to shave off their beards, and those who have refused to fall in line say they had been “beaten and punished”.

Some of the recruits, who joined the college for training on December 20, said “abuses had become routine” and they were even told they “resemble animals”.

Jammu and Kashmir law minister Ali Mohammad Sagar said nobody had the authority to direct any recruit shave off his beard. “It is the Sunnah (tradition of Prophet Mohammad). I will look into the matter.”

“We have not passed any such order,” said college principal Ashok Sharma. “But during training, it is a must to shave.”

Sharma, however, promised to “look into” the matter.

Beard is common among policemen in the state and there is no official rule against growing one.

Police sources said 782 men were recently appointed as wireless operators across the state and were directed to join the training at the college in Kathua.

“More than 50 of us had beards before we joined the college but only 14 of us have beards now. The pressure to shave started the day we joined. All of us initially refused because of religious reasons but many later were forced to fall in line,” one recruit said.

Islamic scholar Showkat Ahmad Shah said forcing anybody to shave was a violation of the Constitution. Islam, he said, prescribes long beards for its followers though some Muslims are clean-shaven. “But every youth who wants to keep a long beard cannot be forced to shave it off or trim it.”

That’s exactly what they are being forced to do, the recruits say.

“Some of us who didn’t were beaten. On Sundays, there is supposed to be no drill but there is no respite for us. Two of us collapsed because of the hard exercise yesterday,” said one.

“We told them our Sikh brothers, too, have beards but why are there no such orders for them. This only infuriates them…. Sometimes they tell us they don’t like our faces and sometimes they say we resemble animals.”

One trainee said the “bearded” recruits were asked to leave the training college.

“On Saturday, they (the instructors) asked us to pack our bags and go home. We told them to give us in writing that they didn’t want us here but they are reluctant to do. For two hours we were kept standing at the college gate. When we said we would talk to the higher-ups, we were called back.”

Unable to bear the “strong-arm tactics”, some recruits have left. Principal Sharma, however, said “nobody has left the college”.

But The Telegraph spoke to one who had. “The punishment was unbearable, the reason I left,” he said. “But please don’t name me.”

Sources said leaving the college wouldn’t lead to a sack, but could affect increments.