Sikh girl turban issue: UN-affiliated body United Sikhs writes to NHRC

Chandigarh, February 24

Amid hijab row, reports of a Bengaluru college asking a Sikh girl not to come in turban have come forth.

Sunil Jakhar, a senior Congress leader, said, “Unfortunately, it appears that earlier apprehensions of Punjab were not unfounded. Reports of an ‘Amritdhari’ Sikh girl being asked to remove her turban in a Bengaluru college are very disconcerting.”

Also read: Sikh girl asked to remove turban in Bengaluru amid hijab row

Attack on Sikh traditions: Akal Takht on Bengaluru turban incident

Jakhar shared his February 13 tweet in which he had hoped that Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh would raise apprehensions of Punjabis about Karnataka CM’s statement about not allowing “religious clothing” in educational institutions, as he met Home Minister Amit Shah.

Meanwhile, the United Sikhs, a UN-affiliated organisation, has written to Justice Arun Kumar Mishra (retd), Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), and sought his intervention on restrictions on religious clothing as it was in contravention of the Constitution in protecting the basic right to practice one’s faith and right to education.

Dr Esher Singh, legal director of the United Sikhs, in a letter to Justice Mishra, said, “The Article 25 of the Constitution provides religious freedom. It was discriminatory hijab ban on Muslim women in Karnataka, becoming a flash point for minority rights. It has resulted in violence and protests.”

The United Sikhs has won three cases that were filed before the United Nations Human Rights Committee in 2008 against French turban ban, he said.

It’s very disconcerting: Jakhar

Unfortunately, it appears that earlier apprehensions of Punjab were not unfounded. Reports of an Amritdhari Sikh girl being asked to remove her turban in a Bengaluru college are very disconcerting. Sunil Jakhar, Congress leader