Lawyer questioned order to allow ‘kirpan’ on flights. Delhi HC dismisses plea

The petition argued that a committee be asked to look into the issue and see if the blade length should be reduced to 4cm instead of the existing 6inches

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Thursday dismissed a plea by a lawyer who challenged the permission granted to Sikhs to carry “kirpan” in domestic aircrafts for travel within the country.

Travellers push trolleys with their luggage at the departure area of the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. (REUTERS)

A bench of chief justice Satish Chandra Sharma and justice Subramonium Prasad rejected the plea which challenged a March 4, 2022 notification that allowed Sikh passengers to carry “kirpan” on any civilian flight operating on domestic routes provided the blade does not exceed six inches and the total length does not exceed nine inches”.

“The petition is dismissed,” the bench said. A detailed order is awaited.

In his plea, lawyer Harsh Vibhore Singhal asked that a committee of stakeholders should be constituted to “apply its mind” to the issue.

The petitioner contended that he was “not questioning” the right to profess and practice a religion under Article 25 of the Constitution but only wanted the constitution of a committee of stakeholders to examine “workable solutions” to ensure that a “kirpan” permitted to be carried on the flight is “appropriately designed and crafted” and does not have a blade length beyond 4 cm.

The petitioner also said that as per the counter affidavit by the aviation security regulator, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), it has not formulated the policy but was following what the government has said. He also clarified that his intention was not to give the matter a political overtone.

BCAS lawyer Anjana Gosain said safety measures, including stationing of marshals, have been put in place by the authorities.

The petition argued that permitting “kirpan” on flights, in terms of the presently permissible dimensions, has “dangerous ramifications for aviation safety” and “if kirpan are deemed safe only because of religion, one wonders how knitting/crochet needles, coconuts, screwdrivers, and small pen knives, etc are deemed hazardous and prohibited.”

“Regardless of a contrary perception, a kirpan remains a blade used in hundreds of homicides with scores of murder cases adjudicated by even the Supreme Court. Thus, kirpans can cause havoc in the skies reducing aviation safety to a nullity,” said the petition.

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