Supreme Court to hear plea raising question if military discipline overwhelms religious freedom in Armed Forces

The Supreme Court is on Monday (October 5, 2025) scheduled to examine the question of whether the right to religious freedom is subservient to military discipline and unit cohesion while hearing a petition filed by a Christian Army officer who was issued an order of termination from service for refusing to enter the sanctum sanctorum of the regiment’s temple to perform pooja.

A Bench headed by Justice Surya Kant would examine the special leave petition filed by Samuel Kamalesan, who was terminated as a Lieutenant in the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, for defying military discipline by politely refusing a command from his superior officer to enter the innermost part of the temple to conduct aarti on the ground that it would affect his monotheistic Christian faith.

The Delhi High Court had upheld the Army’s action in a judgment in May, which held that Mr. Kamalesan “kept his religion above a lawful command from his superior. This clearly is an act of indiscipline”. The High Court concluded that his defiance was in violation of “essential military ethos”. The High Court said things worked differently in the Army compared to the civilian world.

Mr. Kamalesan, represented by advocate Abhishek Jebaraj, explained the regiment had comprised three squadrons of Sikh, Jat, and Rajput personnel. He was the troop leader of one of them. His regiment maintained only a mandir and a gurdwara for its religious needs and parades, and not a “sarv dharm sthal”, which would serve persons of all faiths. There was no church on the premises.

However, he claimed that he accompanied his troops to the mandir and gurdwara for the weekly religious parades and also attended the religious festivals of his troops, such as Deepavali, Navaratri, Lohri, Gurpurab, Holi and similar celebrations. He said he had only sought exemption from entering the innermost part/sanctorum of the temple when the puja/havan/aarti, etc., not only as a sign of respect to his Christian faith but also as a sign of respect towards the sentiments of his troops. He said he would nonetheless remain present with his troops in the temple courtyard, after duly taking off his shoes and belt, with clean hands, with a turban on when necessary, etc., from where he could view the rituals in the inner shrine as an integral member of the religious parade.

‘Mutual respect’

In the High Court, Mr. Kamalesan said his bond with his fellow soldiers was based on “mutual respect, allegiance to the same Flag and Nation, and on the basis of their Indianness, shared meals, exercises, sleeping quarters, and assignments. The creation of fraternity is not restricted to religious parades and activities”.

He said, however, he was constantly asked by a few senior officers to “choose between his faith and serving the Army”. He was issued the termination order in March 2021.

The Union government had responded in the High Court that the troops derived motivation, pride and generated their war cries from the devotional practices to a deity. When an officer distanced himself from these practices, it would adversely affect the morale of the troops, undermining regimentation, cohesion, and unity during combat.