Battle of beards hots up

bangalore: senior congress legislator azeez sait has found an ally in state party chief allum veerabhadrappa, who feels there is nothing wrong in the karnataka government according permission to muslim policemen to sport a beard. but the government thinks otherwise. it is learnt that the government is not likely to consider sait's request to enact a law to permit muslim police personnel to have beards.`` sait's proposal was informally checked with the home department officials as well as senior police officers and they vetoed it. the move will open a pandora's box,'' senior police officers said. however, veerabhadrappa feels the government should not interfere in freedom of religion. ``when police constables sporting moustaches are given special incentives, why should beard be prohibited?'' he asked, adding `` if janata dal (u) leader ramakrishna hegde sports a beard it is considered fashionable, but not by a constable.'' but a senior police officer said: ``religious practices should be confined to home especially when one seeks appointment in police and defence forces. a line should be drawn between objective world and subjective self.'' growing beards by policemen irrespective of their religion is prohibited in karnataka. the drill manual says policemen of all ranks are required to be clean shaven. if the government wants to alter the present position, either a law has to be enacted or the drill manual amended. there is constitutional provision for sikhs who join punjab police or defence services while policemen in jammu and kashmir are governed by the state police act framed under the j & k constitution. ``j & k is a special case as it is a muslim dominated state,'' an officer said. however, in andhra pradesh the issue is being dealt on an ad-hoc basis. ``there seems to be no clear-cut policy on this issue as a prior to 1957 law is being pointed out by muslim personnel to claim that they are entitled to sport beard,'' an officer said.