India’s Highest Court & The Case Of Handlebar Moustache

The case of Joynath Victor De, an employee of India’s national domestic airlines, and his handlebar moustache has tickled the nation’s imagination no end. But for him it has been a matter of bread and butter. He was fired in 1999 after refusing to trim it, but was reinstated – complete with his moustache – after a ruling by the Calcutta High Court found in his favour. Then the authorities decided to get rid of him through compulsory retirement.

“This week, in a case in which Mr De is suing his former employers, justices in the Indian Supreme Court expressed apparent dismay that the claimant had been fired simply for his moustache,” reports The Independent. ” ‘How can a person with a moustache be removed? This is a democratic country,’ said judges H K Sema and Markandey Katju, according to the Press Trust of India. ‘This is shocking’.

“For more than 40 years Joynath Victor De has cherished his moustache – grooming and caring for it daily with the love and attention one might normally furnish upon a favoured pet. Rod Littlewood, the vice-president of the British-based Handlebar Club, of which Mr De is a member, said it appeared that Indian Airlines was discriminating against him because of his moustache.”

Let us see when Mr De would again be able to twirl his handlebar with pride…within the Indian Airlines office.