Trinidad judge rejects claim of Muslim cop barred from growing beard

(Trinidad Express) A Muslim police officer who mounted a legal challenge against him being prohibited from growing his beard due to his religious belief has had his claim dismissed.

Justice Betsy Ann Lambert-Peterson yesterday struck out the claim brought by PC Kristian Khan that his constitutional rights to freely practise his religion were being infringed by the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS).

Khan claimed that Police Service Regulation 143(3)(b) of 2007 and Standing Order 6 Section 5, which required officers to be clean shaven except in cases in which they were medically exempted, were unconstitutional, illegal, null and void and of no legal effect.

He challenged the regulations, contending they were not in conformity with Section 4(h) of the Constitution and should be struck out.

One of the main arguments mounted by Senior Counsel Anand Ramlogan, who led a team of attorneys on behalf of the officer, was that the Police Service Regulations of 1965 were repealed and replaced by the 2007 regulations.

This meant the regulations were no longer considered to be “saved law” under Section 6 of the Constitution and, therefore, it was open to judicial challenge, he said.

The defence, on the other hand, submitted that Regulation 143(3)(b) of the 2007 regulation was still saved law. The attorneys contended that Regulation 143(3)(b) was a re-enactment of Regulation 51 of the 1965 regulations, which predated the republican Constitution.

In the end, Justice Lambert-Peterson ruled in favour of the defence, agreeing that the regulation was still saved law and could not be challenged.

The ruling was in contrast to one that was delivered by Justice Robin Mohammed on Thursday, who found that the regulations were not saved and were also unconstitutional.

In that case, Justice Mohammed found that the constitutional rights of a man who was prevented from applying to become a police officer because of his height was infringed.