The right to wear the 5Ks
Yesterday, February 5, 2008, a UK judge Sir Michael Harrison in Court 18 at the Royal Court of Justice in London decided not to allow a Sikh girl, Sarika Watkins-Singh to wear her Kara, one of the five articles of faith to school before the case is heard in full at a hearing in several months time.
The deputy High Court judge decided that the 14-year-old Sikh girl cannot wear her kara to school pending a full legal battle over her cultural and religious rights. This is surprising as in 1983 the House of Lords, the supreme court in the UK decided that a school had violated the rights of a student, Gurinder Singh Mandla when he was not allowed to enter the school because of his turban which he used to cover his kesh (uncut hair), which is one of the 5ks or Articles of faith. (see the full judgement Mandla v Dowell Lee).
In what appears an unbelievable statement, the judge ruled: "Whilst I accept there will be detriment to the claimant (Sarika) if she is not able to wear the Kara in the interim, it does not seem to me that is anything like as significant as the detriment to the school if she were allowed to wear it." This surprised a lot of Sikhs as it appears to encourage other organisations to freely discriminate and break the law as the "detriment to the claimant" may insignificant.
It is also reported that the school head, Jane Rosser, said that wearing the Kara was against regulations because it was a piece of jewellery. It is surprising that a head of a school is not familiar with the details of the Sikh faith and can call a Kara a piece of "jewellery". Banta Singh stated, "If a kara can be categorised as jewellery then how comes my Gurdwara gives these free at every Amrit Sanskar. Also why many famous Sikhs like the 96 year old marathon runner Fauja Singh wears one; Dr Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India also wears one; why my baby son who is only 3 month old and why when we cremate our dead, we put on a kara."
Sarika said: "I am a Sikh and it is very important for me to wear the Kara because it is a symbol of my faith and a constant reminder that I should only do good work, and never do anything bad, with my hands."
It is a shame that in a multi-cultural society such as Britain, the rights and values of the minorities are still being suppressed and undermined. The blame for this situation and for the lack of understanding by the public and authorities must be placed with government, educational institutions and the press. They have all failed in educating the public and managers of organisations.
In World War 1 and 2, the Sikhs contributed hundreds of thousands of troops. These Sikhs warriors fought without the statutory helmets. Then, the British were flexible enough to honour the Sikh's century old custom of wearing the turban over their kesh (uncut hair), one of their five articles of faith.
In 1983, the House of Lords passed judgement that when a headmaster, Mr A G Dowell Lee of Park Grove School barred a Sikh student from his school as his uniform policy did not allow for any headgear or kesh (uncut hair), that he had broken the Race Relations Act and had discriminated against the boy.
Now, 25 years on, we have the same problem - another head of school discriminating against a Sikh girl for wearing a Sikh article of faith. It should be known that when one decides to be a committed Sikh then he or she does not have a choice in wearing these five articles of faith. For centuries the Sikhs have worn these symbols of their religion.
These articles are part of the Sikhs promise to the Guru – Sikhs who commit to their faith honour the sacrifices made by Guru Gobind Singh for the freedom and survival of their ancestors. The Guru sacrificed his four sons, his father, his mother, his grand-father. As Sikhs, we make a promise to carry his symbols with us until the day we die. In addition to this, the Sikh also promised to follow the Guru's "Dharam" (path of righteousness) and accept the Guru Granth Sahib as the spiritual guide.
The British have known the Sikhs for several centuries and have known about these customs. How comes they want to restrict these symbols now after some 300 years of association?
I believe that it is the duty of all institutions, companies, educational establishments in the UK to make sure that their rules are non-discriminatory. Obviously, to have a policy that does not allow the 5 Sikh articles of faith is unfair, discriminatory and unlawful.
See also
- Mandla v Dowell Lee
- National Protest by UK Sikhs
- Turban, UK Legislation Regarding its use by Sikhs
- Articles of faith
- Turban
External links
| These articles deal with Sikh's Five ks |
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Kesh (uncut hair) -|- Kara (bangle) -|- Kanga (small comb) -|- Kachera (under garment) -|- Kirpan (sword) |
