Overview
- The Supreme Court on November 25 affirmed the Delhi High Court order upholding Lieutenant Samuel Kamalesan’s termination for declining to enter the inner sanctums of his unit’s temple and gurdwara.
- A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi called the conduct “the grossest kind of indiscipline” and said personal religious interpretations cannot govern behavior in uniform.
- The court held that visible participation in troops’ rituals flows from the Army’s model of secularism and leadership by example, not from denominational endorsement.
- Kamalesan, a Protestant commissioned in 2017, argued that entering another faith’s sanctum violated the Ten Commandments and said he otherwise joined regimental events, but the bench noted even a pastor had advised such entry was permissible.
- The Army said repeated refusals despite counseling weakened cohesion in the 3rd Cavalry, which maintains both a temple and a gurdwara, while public reaction has ranged from concerns about individual conscience to support for the ruling as necessary for unit discipline.