Mumbai: Special NIA Court Rejects Undertrial’s Plea To Keep Long Hair For Religious Reasons, Cites Infection Risk

Mumbai, September 26, 2026: Prisoners cannot have long hair and beards as this could lead to lice infestation, fungal infection and scabies among co-prisoners, which require longer treatment, prison authorities said. Considering this, the special NIA court rejected the plea of an undertrial prisoner seeking permission to have long hair.

Prisoner Seeks Permission

Jerry Jacobs, an accused booked for allegedly being part of the human trafficking racket for cyber frauds in Laos, had approached the court for a direction to prison authorities not to cut his hair.

He further stated that he and his family had taken a vow that he would shave his complete hair before their deity and that the motion of this application was with clean and religious intention.

The court, on receipt of the application, had called for a report from the prison authorities at Taloja jail. The prison authorities had resisted the application, claiming that long hair and beards could cause various diseases, including lice infestation, fungal infection and scabies, to the applicant/accused as well as other inmates. It was contended that only prisoners who are followers of Sikhism are allowed to have long beards and hair.

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Court Rejects Plea

The court considered the objections of the prison authorities and rejected the plea, observing that, “considering the fact that as the said diseases are contagious, therefore it would not be proper to direct the jail authority accordingly. Apart from the same, the Jail Manual also does not ventilate for such relief to be extended to the applicant.”

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