AP minority panel seeks NCC's reply over 'beard' row

The Andhra Pradesh State Minorities Commission has sought an explanation from the Director General (DG) of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) on a two-year-old circular that allows only Sikh cadets to maintain beard and not others.

The panel’s move came after some Muslim college students were turned away by NCC officials for not shaving their beard.

A single guardian protested
The father of one of those students, a student of the Anwar-ul-Uloom College here, in a complaint to the commission, said his son along with 18-20 other cadets had gone to attend an NCC camp in June. There, all Muslim cadets sporting a beard were asked to go back and return clean-shaven.

A circular (4180/COC/DG NCC,Training “A”) issued by the NCC DG’s office on June 6, 2013, asking all Sikh cadets to tie their beard and others to come clean-shaven, was cited. The order also listed out the parameters to be followed.

AP Minorities Commission Chairperson Abid Rasool Khan told the media that Muslim students from the same college had approached him regarding the matter in June but the guardian of only one student and an NGO named Help Hyderabad had come forward to make a complaint.