The Delhi High Court on 22 December dismissed a plea opposing the permission given by the Central government to Sikhs to carry kirpans while travelling on domestic flights in India.

“How can we interfere with such a policy decision? We can’t interfere. It is a policy decision of the Government of India,” the division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad had said on 15 December while reserving its order.

Allowing kirpans on flights has dangerous ramifications for aviation safety and if kirpans are deemed safe only because of religion, one wonders how knitting/crochet needles, coconuts, screwdrivers, and small pen knives, etc. are deemed hazardous and prohibited, the plea, submitted by Advocate Harsh Vibhore Singhal, stated.

“Regardless of popular belief, a kirpan has been used in hundreds of homicides, with scores of murder cases adjudicated by the Supreme Court. Thus, kirpans can wreak havoc in the skies, rendering aviation safety null and void,” the plea stated.

“It is a matter of elementary physics that a blade with a narrow width at the base is less lethal in its capacity to pierce, chop, cut, or slice than a blade with a thicker broader base gradually tapering to the pointed tips,” the plea further said.

The Centre issued a notification on 4 March which allowed Sikh passengers to carry kirpans having a blade length of no more than six inches and a total length of no more than nine inches while travelling anywhere in India.