MUMBAI, India – The Delhi High Court has upheld the dismissal of a Christian officer from the Indian Army for his refusal to participate in either Hindu or Sikh religious rituals at his regiment’s temple and gurdwara.
Lieutenant Samuel Kamalesan joined the army in 2017 and served in the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, which predominantly recruits soldiers from the Jat, Rajput and Sikh communities. While he did attend religious parades and festivals at the unit’s temple and gurdwara, shortly after his recruitment he sought an exemption from entering the temple’s inner sanctorum to perform the puja Hindu worship ritual, claiming that it went against his Christian beliefs.
