Indian Supreme Court Upholds Legislative Oaths In Name of Allah

A panel of the Supreme Court of India has rejected a challenge to the seating of eleven members of the Kerala Legislative Assembly who last year took their oaths of office in the name of Allah, according to today's Newstrack India. Petitioner, Madhu Parmula, Vice President of Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha, argued the Indian Constitution, Third Schedule, requires that legislators' oaths be taken in the name of God. The court ruled, however, that Allah in Arabic means God, so the requirement was met. The court distinguished an earlier case in which the Kerala High Court ordered a legislator not to take his seat after he took his oath in the name of a religious Guru. The Supreme Court panel said that taking the oath in the name of an individual is unconstitutional.