ISSUE

There were three children named Bijoe, Binu Mol and Bindu Emmanuel who were faithful of

Jehovah’s Witness and they used to attend school daily. Whenever the school would sing the

National Anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’ they would stand in respect but they wouldn’t sing because

according to their religious faith singing of the anthem was dis-respectful. No teacher or student

had a problem with that but in the month of July of 1985, a person took an offence to it and that

person was a member of the Legislative Assembly.

The Head Mistress had expelled those three children from school in the month of July. The

father had made a representation of the children for seeking a restraining order which was passed

by the authorities from preventing them from attending school but their petition was dismissed

by a Single Judge and then the Division Bench.

Hence a writ petition has been filed by the representatives under Article 136 of the Constitution

of India, because they were standing respectfully when the National Anthem had been sung and

if they were expelled on those grounds, it would be a violation of their fundamental rights

namely the freedom of Conscience and freely to profess, practice and propagate religion.

RULE

Constitution of India –

Article 19

Article 19(1)

Article 19(2) to (6)

Article 21

Article 25

Article 25(1)

Article 25(2)

Article 26

Article 51

ANALYSIS

To understand the case we must first understand what the meaning of Jehovah Witness is. A

Jehovah’s Witness is a person that believes in the interpretations of the Bible which is made by

the elders in Brooklyn which establish all their doctrines.

They believe in the destruction of the world in the Armageddon is imminent and that the creation

of God’s Kingdom on earth is the only solution to the problems faced by mankind.

A witness is not allowed to sing along in the national anthem because of their honest belief and

conviction that their religion does not permit them to join any rituals except it be in their prayers

to Jehovah their god.

The beliefs of the Jehovah’s Witness can be understood with the help of the case of Adelaide

Company of Jehovah’s Witness v. Commonwealth 1 –

Jehovah’s Witness believe that God, Jehovah, is the supreme ruler of the universe. They believe

that Satan or Lucifer was originally a part of God’s organization and that the perfect man was

placed under him. They believe that he had rebelled against God and set up his own organization

to challenge God and through that organization has ruled the world.

As according to the present case, it was said that there was an infringement to the fundamental

right namely right to freedom of speech and expression of the children.

Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution guarantees to all citizens freedom of speech and expression,

but Article 19(2) provides that nothing in Article 19(1)(a) shall prevent a State from making any

laws, so far as such law imposes reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by

the said sub-clause in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the

State, friendly relations with foreign states, public order etc.

Article 25(1) on the other hand guarantees to all persons freedom to conscience and the right to

freely profess, practice and propagate religion, subject to public order, morality and health and to

other provisions of Part III of the Constitution.

1 (1943) 67 CLR 116.

There are no provisions of law which oblige anyone to sing the National Anthem nor is it

disrespectful to the National Anthem if a person who stands up respectfully when the National

Anthem is sung and does not join the singing.

Though Article 51-A(a) of the Constitution does vest this duty in all the citizens of India to abide

by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National

Anthem. Proper respect is shown to the National Anthem by standing up when the National

Anthem is sung and thus is not be right to say that disrespect is shown by not joining in the

singing.

As per The Prevention of Insults to National Honor Act of 1971, Section 3 of the act deals with

the National Anthem which states that –

‘Whoever, intentionally prevents the singing of the National Anthem or causes disturbance to

any assembly engaged in such singing shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which

may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both’

Thus it can be justified that standing up respectfully when the National Anthem is sung but not

singing oneself clearly doesn’t either prevent the singing of the National Anthem or cause

disturbance to the assembly engaged in such singing so as to constitute the offence mentioned in

Section 3 of the Prevention of Insults to National Honor Act.

Therefore, what the three students were doing which is standing up respectfully but not engaged

in the singing of the Indian National Anthem can’t be a ground for expulsion and is a breach of

their fundamental rights.

Conclusion

The Supreme Court of India thus held that the right of the appellants were infringed under

Article 19(1)(a) and 25(1) and were thus supposed to be protected.

The learned judges of the Supreme Court had set aside the judgment of the High Court and had

thus directed the respondents to re-admit the children into the school, and to permit them to

pursue their studies without hindrance and to facilitate the pursuit of their studies by giving them

necessary facilities.