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Sarika Singh shows Monty Panesar's photo to judge
WSN Network

Even as Sarika Singh, the Sikh teenage girl turned out of a British school for wearing a 'kada', launched her legal case at the High Court in London Monday in a hearing expected to last three days, her mother petitioned Prime Minister Gordon Brown to intervene in the matter ahead of a court case.

Some 150 gurdwaras, over 200 Sikh organisations and thousands of people around the world are backing Sarika's struggle to keep the symbol signifying her Sikh identity.

The 14-year-old's lawyer, Helen Mountfield, told the court the kara was one of the five Ks of Sikhism – the others being the kesh (uncut hair), the kanga (wooden comb), the kaccha (specially designed shorts) and the kirpan (sword). She referred the judge to a photograph of Panesar wearing a kara as a symbol of the faith.

Sarika Singh was excluded from a school in Aberdare in the province of Wales in November last year in a case that has seen Britain's substantial Sikh community as well as civil liberties groups rally to her support. The school bans girls from wearing jewellery other than wristwatches and plain ear studs, but Sarika has pointed out that the kada is a Sikh religious symbol.

The legal action is supported by the rights group Liberty, which says the school is in breach of Britain's race relations and human rights laws.

Sarika has found an alternative school which is allowing her to wear the bracelet but her mother submitted a petition to the prime minister's office Friday urging Brown to intervene in the matter "to show discrimination is totally unacceptable".

The case centred on a 'vital question' about the protection of rights of cultural expression, Ms Mountfield said.

The hearing in London is expected to end Wednesday.

18 June, 2008
 

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