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Sarika Watkins Singh, 15, was excluded from school for refusing to stop wearing the Kara (bangle)

 

UK School face £200,000 legal bill for banning Sikh kara (bangle)

 

London, July 30, 2008
D.S Mehta

NRI Sikh school girl Sarika Watkins Singh, 15, won the case to bear kara (bangle) in July 2008 and last week, judge ordered the Aberdare Girls’ School, in Aberdare to pay legal bills of £200,000.

Sarika was excluded from school for refusing to stop wearing the bangle but the school denied any racial discrimination. She was out of school for nine months because the kara (bangle) was against its uniform policy

The school’s own legal fees top £76,000. The school, with an annual budget of around £2.2million, has already paid £60,000 to Liberty but disputes an extra bill of £80,000.

Nick Seaton, Chairman of the Real Education said, “This is 200,000 pounds which is likely to come out of the school’s budget. It means that the students will suffer.”

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NRI Sikh girl wins court battle to wear religious bangle

 

London, July 30, 2008
D.S Mehta

NRI Sikh school girl, Sarika Watkins Singh, 14, won the case to wear her Kara (bangle) in school when she was dismissed from school.

Most of the NRIs believe that this issue could have been resolved by the school and the local authority meeting their statutory duty under the Race Relations Act and the Equality Act.

Sarika can get on with her education and that both she and the school can put this unfortunate incident behind them. From this court battle, all schools and education authorities learn from the case and ensure that no such problems emerge in the future.

First the Court re-affirmed the decision in Mandla v.Dowell Lee that Sikhs constitute both an ethnic and a religious group and are therefore protected from racial and religious discrimination.

The Court ruled that although wearing the kara is not a requirement for non-Amrit-tauri Sikhs, it is of exceptional importance to the racial and religious identity of observant Sikhs. The argument that indirect discrimination could only occur if wearing the kara was an absolute requirement was rejected. Indirect discrimination still took place if a person was prevented from wearing an object which was of exceptional importance to their religious or racial identity.

The Court also emphasized that the case could have no wider implications for two reasons. First, it did not overturn the schools uniform policy, it merely ruled that an exemption should be granted in this case. Second, it pointed out that the kara was an unobtrusive object which could not be compared to the niqab and jihab. (In other cases, schools have won cases in the courts allowing them to ban them).

The Court also pointed out that many schools have no problem with the kara. It also highlighted the good practice in local authorities such as Redbridge, Birmingham and Swansea.

 

 

 

 

Sarika Watkins Singh, 15, was excluded from school for refusing to stop wearing the bangle