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mauja maan di
Sikh girl wins right to wear bangle to school
LONDON: A Welsh Sikh girl on Tuesday won her legal battle to wear a “kara” (bangle) to school after the High Court ruled that the school’s decision to bar her from doing so amounted to indirect racial discrimination.
Sarika Watkins-Singh (14), a student of’ Aberdare Girls’ High School in South Wales, was reprimanded by school authorities for insisting on wearing the “kara” and she was excluded from class last year.
The school, at which she was the only Sikh girl, does not permit pupils to wear jewellery, except wrist watches and ear studs.
Ms. Singh argued that it was part of her religious obligations to wear a “kara.” Her lawyers told the court that it was as important to her to wear a “kara” as it was to the England cricketer Monty Panesar.
Ruling in her favour, the judge said: “In this case there is very clear evidence it was not a piece of jewellery but to Sarika was, and remains, one of the defining focal symbols of being a Sikh.”
He rejected the school’s claim that a bangle could be seen as a “symbol of affluence” and observed that some of the watches worn by children at the school were more expensive than a simple steel bangle.
Judge Stephen Silber said he was told that in Sikhism the “kara” denoted the “God’s infinity” and was effectively a “handcuff to God.”
He ruled that the school was guilty of indirect discrimination under race relations and equality laws. He said the ruling was conveyed to the school and it had agreed to take Ms. Singh back.
After winning the case, Ms. Singh said: “I am overwhelmed by the outcome and it’s marvellous to know that the long journey I’ve been on has finally come to an end. I’m so happy to know that no-one else will go through what me and my family have gone through. I just want to say that I am a proud Welsh and Punjabi Sikh girl.”
In a statement, her father Satnam Singh said: “We are very pleased with the outcome of the case but we are extremely disappointed that we had to come to the High court in the order to give our daughter the right to wear the ‘Kara’ in school.”
Rights group Liberty, which campaigned for her, also welcomed the judgment.
Ms. Singh also received support from a group of MPs, who backed a petition her family gave to Downing Street last month urging Prime Minister Gordon Brown to intervene.
LONDON: A Welsh Sikh girl on Tuesday won her legal battle to wear a “kara” (bangle) to school after the High Court ruled that the school’s decision to bar her from doing so amounted to indirect racial discrimination.
Sarika Watkins-Singh (14), a student of’ Aberdare Girls’ High School in South Wales, was reprimanded by school authorities for insisting on wearing the “kara” and she was excluded from class last year.
The school, at which she was the only Sikh girl, does not permit pupils to wear jewellery, except wrist watches and ear studs.
Ms. Singh argued that it was part of her religious obligations to wear a “kara.” Her lawyers told the court that it was as important to her to wear a “kara” as it was to the England cricketer Monty Panesar.
Ruling in her favour, the judge said: “In this case there is very clear evidence it was not a piece of jewellery but to Sarika was, and remains, one of the defining focal symbols of being a Sikh.”
He rejected the school’s claim that a bangle could be seen as a “symbol of affluence” and observed that some of the watches worn by children at the school were more expensive than a simple steel bangle.
Judge Stephen Silber said he was told that in Sikhism the “kara” denoted the “God’s infinity” and was effectively a “handcuff to God.”
He ruled that the school was guilty of indirect discrimination under race relations and equality laws. He said the ruling was conveyed to the school and it had agreed to take Ms. Singh back.
After winning the case, Ms. Singh said: “I am overwhelmed by the outcome and it’s marvellous to know that the long journey I’ve been on has finally come to an end. I’m so happy to know that no-one else will go through what me and my family have gone through. I just want to say that I am a proud Welsh and Punjabi Sikh girl.”
In a statement, her father Satnam Singh said: “We are very pleased with the outcome of the case but we are extremely disappointed that we had to come to the High court in the order to give our daughter the right to wear the ‘Kara’ in school.”
Rights group Liberty, which campaigned for her, also welcomed the judgment.
Ms. Singh also received support from a group of MPs, who backed a petition her family gave to Downing Street last month urging Prime Minister Gordon Brown to intervene.
