Article of faith – lawyer battles for sword rights
CHALLENGE LAUNCHED OVER RIGHT TO BRING THE KIRPAN INTO COURT
A SIKH lawyer has launched a legal battle after he was asked to remove his Kirpan (religious sword) when attending court.
Jaskeerat Singh Gulshan, 30, felt degraded and humiliated in April 2021 at Ealing Magistrates’ Court when he was asked to remove his Kirpan or be denied entry.
He had been there to support a victim who was to give evidence on behalf of the crown and he had to place his Kirpan in the car in order to enter the courts.
Jaskeerat, who says he has never encountered this at other courts, is now challenging Her Majesty’s Court and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) to overturn an ‘unlawful’ policy at Ealing Magistrates.’
An Amritdhari Sikh is required to observe a rigorous code of conduct. Part of this requires Amritdhari Sikhs to wear five distinguishing articles of the Sikh faith – Kes (long, uncut hair), Kangha (a comb), Karha (a steel bracelet), Kachara (cotton shorts), and Kirpan (a sword).
The names of these articles begin with the letter ‘K’ and thus these articles came to be known as the “Five Ks”.
HMCTS staff at Ealing Magistrates Court revealed a policy that only
permits Sikhs to carry a Kirpan no larger than six inches (four inches for the blade and two inches for the handle and the sheath).
Jaskeerat says these measurements are physically impossible to comply with as a Kirpan with four inches of blade cannot have two inches for the handle and sheath.
The lawyer was forced to remove his Kirpan as it was above six inches – but the blade itself remained in line with HMCTS’ current policy of four inches. Since the incident, the lawyer went on to challenge the HMCTS over the policy, to which they said had been drafted by a consultation which included the Sikh community.
“We asked for evidence of that consultation, we don’t know where the size limitation came from, who from the Sikh community was consulted but the policy was drafted in or around 2001 after 9/11 attacks,” said Jaskeerat.
The challenge found that the actions taken by security at Ealing Magistrates Court were unlawful, however the policy still stands.
Jaskeerat said: “A judge considering the initial Judicial Review application ruled that the policy was drafted after a consultation and therefore remains lawful and a review of the policy is due to take place in early 2022.
“However, Judge also made a finding that the way they (security staff) handled the incident was unlawful they were meant to consult a senior person on site, which they didn’t, and they also failed to exercise discretion.
“The majority of Sikhs wear a Kirpan which is bigger than six inches, so where did these rules from? It leads to religious and ethnic discrimination, it discriminates against any Sikh who wears a Kirpan bigger than six inches.”
He added: “We talk about equality and diversity, but is it equality if we’re being stopped from exercising
our basic fundamental religious rights? We were allowed to go to war wearing the Kirpan and turban to protect British interests and now living like a citizen we’re stopped because of our religious rights.”
On March 10, Jaskeerat attended a judicial review hearing at the Royal Court of Justice to challenge the current policy around the Kirpan.