This is what Soli Sorabjee, former Attorney General has to say about the singing of Vande Mataram-
"Vande Mataram is an inspirational song connected with our freedom struggle and is joyously sung by a vast majority of our people. However, many Muslims are opposed to singing Vande Mataram on the ground that its verses are against the tenets of Islam and that compelling them to sing the song would violate their freedom of religion. Our Supreme Court had to deal with a similar issue. School children belonging to the Jehovah’s Witnesses faith refused to sing the national anthem because their religion forbade its members to sing the national anthem of any country. The students were expelled. The Supreme Court observed that a secular court cannot enquire into the correctness or otherwise of religious beliefs. The issue on which Court has to be satisfied is whether the belief is genuinely and conscientiously held by a sizeable section of the community for a period of time and that the belief is not opposed to public order, morality or health. The Supreme Court struck down the students’ expulsion as violative of their freedom of religion guaranteed by Article 25 of the Constitution. The legal position is that Muslims, who because of their conscientious religious belief refuse to sing Vande Mataram, cannot be forced to do so nor can they be penalised for their abstention. What is the rationale of the Supreme Court judgment? In the words of celebrated Justice Chinnappa Reddy: “Our tradition teaches tolerance; our philosophy preaches tolerance; our Constitution practises tolerance; let us not dilute it”. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/tackling-terrorism/538686/0
