On Thursday (January 27), the Kerala government has made it clear that the Student Police Cadets (SPC) cannot wear hijab, scarf or full sleeves over their uniform. SPC Project is an initiative by the Kerala police in collaboration with the government to make children conscious about laws, discipline and civic sense.
The development comes days after an 8th Std student of GHSS Kuttiady named Riza Nahan moved the Kerala High Court, alleging that she wasn’t allowed to take part in the parade for wearing a full sleeve uniform with a hijab. In her petition, she claimed that it was her ‘fundamental right’ to wear hijab and full sleeves. Riza had claimed that she was stopped from participating in the parade due 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 informed that the addition of religious symbols to the uniform of SPC would be inappropriate. The official added that religious exemptions in one case would send across a wrong message and encourage similar demands by other groups.
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 also pointed out that no such demands were made about such modifications to the SPC uniform in the past 10 years.
As per reports, the Home Department also stated that it was not compulsory for the students to join the police cadets. It highlighted that allowing exemptions in uniform will interfere with the secular nature of the institution. One of the objectives behind the creation of the Student Police Cadets Project was to nurture a generation that placed nation over the religious background.
