Judgment

CHINNAPPA REDDY, J. : - The three child appellants, Bijoe, Binu Mot and Bindu Emmanuel, are the faithful of Jehovahs Witnesses. They attend school. Daily, during the morning Assembly, when the National Anthem Jana Gana Mana is sung, they stand respectfully but they do not sing. They do not sing because, according to them, it is against the tenets of their religious faith not the words or the thoughts of the Anthem but the singing of it. This they and before them their elder sisters who attended the same school earlier have done all these several years. No one bothered, No one worried. No one thought it disrespectful or unpatriotic. The children were left in peace and to their beliefs. That was until July, 1985, when some patriotic gentleman took notice. The gentleman thought it was unpatriotic of the children not to sing the National Anthem. He happened to be a Member of the Legislative Assembly. So, he put a question in the Assembly. A Commission was appointed to enquire and report. We do not have the report of the Commission. We are told that the Commission reported that the children are law-abiding and that they showed no disrespect to the National Anthem. Indeed it is n