JKSA urges MK Stalin to restore religious freedom after Kashmiri doctor withdraws admission over beard policy

Days after a Kashmiri doctor withdrew his admission to a super-specialty course at Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital (KMCH), Coimbatore, due to the ‘beard’ policy requiring male students to be clean-shaven, the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA) has written to Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin urging to restore religious freedom.

Dr Zubair Ahmad, a young Muslim doctor from the Kashmir Valley, was recently allotted a DrNB Nephrology seat through the NEET SS 2025 counselling held by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS).

Despite having earned the seat through an all-India merit-based exam, he has requested the NBEMS to allow him to participate in the third round of counselling and has sought a return of Rs 2 lakh security deposit submitted during the admission process.

Zubair Ahmad has completed his MBBS, MD, and senior residency at Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura, Srinagar, without encountering any such restriction throughout his academic and professional journey, the students’ group said.

He claimed that he was asked to sign a policy document that prohibits sporting a beard and alleged that the institute threatened to deny him enrollment if failed to comply. KMCH’s medical director TP Kalaniti told Careers360 that he was not denied admission due to his ‘beard’, but for non-payment of admission fee.

According to the KMCH dress code for male students, “Hair should be shortly cut and face should be cleanly shaven whenever inside the campus.”

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JKSA calls beard policy 'discriminatory'

Seeking immediate intervention, the JKSA wrote to Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin: “Forcing a Kashmiri doctor to shave his beard, a core part of his religious identity, not only violates his fundamental rights but also creates fear, exclusion, and alienation in academic spaces where there should instead be acceptance, equity, and dignity. It compels individuals to choose between their education and their identity, a choice no citizen in a democratic society should ever be forced to make.”

The students urged the chief minister to take all necessary steps “to ensure that religious freedoms are protected in all educational and healthcare institutions across Tamil Nadu”.

Further, they asked the CM to “discourage discriminatory institutional policies that infringe upon constitutional rights and to help restore the confidence of students and professionals who look up to Tamil Nadu”.

Tamil Nadu has “historically opened its arms to students especially from Kashmir Valley”; however, this incident threatens to “tarnish that proud legacy and sends a disturbing message to students from marginalised and minority backgrounds”, it added.