Calcutta HC upholds CAPF no to candidate for arm tattoo
Times of India | 8 January 2026
KOLKATA: Calcutta High Court, in a Jan 2 ruling, upheld a Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) order rejecting a candidate for sporting a tattoo in his right forearm.
While innocuous tattoos on left inner forearm are permitted in the CAPF, a tattoo on the right forearm — the saluting arm — is strictly barred as it disrupts uniformity, discipline and visual neutrality expected of a soldier.
The candidate, on learning that he was declared “unfit” due to the right forearm tattoo, had it removed using laser therapy and appeared for a review medical test. He was still considered ineligible. The Hooghly resident then moved high court challenging the CAPF order.
Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya held that the health condition of a candidate, including tattoos on the body, needed to be assessed on the date of detailed medical examination, which was conducted on Dec 3. “If there is an anomaly in detailed medical examination, the candidate has the right to prefer review, but removal of tattoo after the detailed medical examination and prior to review medical examination in pursuit of being declared medically fit is not permissible,” he ruled.
The judge observed that a person sporting a tattoo “may be dermatologically fit but that does not mean the candidate is to be declared fit in terms of (CAPF admission) guideline.”
After the candidate challenged the ‘unfit’ report, a review medical examination was conducted on Dec 6 at JNM Hospital, Kalyani in Nadia. The review report mentioned that a ‘one-sitting’ laser therapy was conducted on the tattoo. When the judge asked his counsel the date of the laser therapy, he was unable to give a reply. “How does the candidate not know when the therapy was done?” an angry Justice Bhattacharyya asked. In the absence of a date, it was presumed that the laser removal was done between Dec 3 and Dec 6.
When the counsel submitted that this was the candidate’s last attempt to clear the CAPF entrance, the judge said, “He has dug his own grave. If I relax this now, I will have to relax the same in other cases as well.”