With Ayyappa Deeksha or the pilgrimage to the famous Sabarimala temple in Kerala nearing, the controversy over police personnel donning the customary black dress as part of the pilgrimage was again back in focus.
As the annual pilgrimage requires a pilgrim to grow their hair, not shave the beard apart from wearing a black dress and not wearing any foot wear, the uniformed policemen in the State going on the pilgrimage have been running into problems with the higher-ups.
A fresh controversy has erupted with the city police issuing a memo again, asking the policemen intending to go on the pilgrimage, to take a long leave and not to seek permission to follow the pilgrimage code while on duty.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Central Zone, VB Kamalasan Reddy, who has issued the memo has asked the Assistant Commissioners and the Inspectors not to entertain any request from the members of the police for permission to grow beards for religious purposes or attend their duties without wearing uniform and shoes.
He said that this was not a new memo but such restrictions were in place right from the inception of the police force as part of the discipline. “The memo had to be issued again as a constable had approached me seeking permission to grow beard. I asked him to go on leave as rules do not permit this,” he said.
Officials said that nothing which was against the police discipline including changes in the dress can be allowed as it affects the duties of the police personnel like patrolling and crowd control. Such memos, issued in the past, had evoked criticism from the lower rungs of the force, especially from the people who were planning to go on Ayyappa Deeksha.
