Trinidad: Muslim cop awarded TT$185,000 in compensation after hijab ban
(Trinidad Guardian) A Muslim Special Reserve Police (SRP), who successfully challenged the T&T Police Service (TTPS) policy banning female officers from wearing hijabs while on duty, has been awarded $185,000 in compensation.
Although High Court Judge Margaret Mohammed upheld Sharon Roop’s constitutional motion lawsuit in November last year, she only assessed the compensation owed to her during a hearing at the Hall of Justice in Port-ofSpain,. In a 51-page ruling, Mohammed ruled that Roop, of Edinburgh 500, Chaguanas, was entitled to $125,000 in general and aggravated damages for the emotional distress, pain, and anguish she suffered while being subject to the TTPS’s now discriminatory policy.
In assessing the compensation, Mohammed considered five instances where Roop claimed the application of the policy caused her distress.
Roop, who has been an SRP since 2009, began wearing a hijab after she started to actively practice her religion in 2014.
The first instance was when Roop attempted to get assistance from the Women’s Police Bureau to advocate for her right to wear her hijab but was turned away and told she could be prosecuted for breaching the TTPS’s uniform policy.
The second came on March 8, 2016, when Roop was asked to attend International Women’s Day celebrations at the Chaguanas Police Station. Roop, who was off-duty, wore business attire and her hijab but was told by a senior officer that she could not participate as she dressed inappropriately.
Later that day, Roop was approached by another senior officer who threatened to institute disciplinary proceedings against her for wearing the hijab.
Several months later,
Roop was approached by another senior officer who suggested that he may have to transfer her from the division’s wireless room as the TTPS was combating gangs in central Trinidad with alleged Islamic links.
The last discriminatory incident occurred in December 2017 when former police commissioner Stephen Williams stated, in his witness statement in the case, that the TTPS accommodated Christian officers who wished to wear crosses and rosaries and Hindu officers, who wear raksha sutra strings.