People
No Sikh Body Helped Me, Says Welsh Teenager Who Battled The System Alone ... And Won
INDIAN EXPRESS
Sarika Watkins-Singh, a Welsh teenager, who
won a landmark victory in the British High Court in 2008 upholding her
right to wear the karra to school as a symbol of her Sikh faith, says that no Sikh organisation in the United Kingdom supported her as she
fought the legal battle all alone.
Sarika, who is of half Welsh and half Punjabi parentage, said that
it was the British media that supported her throughout and played an
important role in highlighting the case.
Her victory was later hailed
as a groundbreaking achievement as it set a new benchmark for religious
expression in public space.
She was talking to mediapersons at her ancestral village, Mannan, in Hoshiarpur, Punjab. Sarika is visiting her Punjabi relatives place
for the first time after winning the legal battle.
Villagers accorded
her a warm welcome for fighting for her religious right.
It may be remembered that Sarika was barred from
attending classes in the Aberdare Girls’ School in the Welsh town of
Aberdare in November 2007 for breaking its “no jewellery” rule. Then the
only Sikh student in the 600-strong school, Sarika had appealed the
school authorities to allow her to wear karra, which is an article of
faith. The girl refused to take off the article of faith, upon which she
was excluded from attending classes.
Later, she filed a case against her school under the United Kingdom's anti-discrimination laws. The British High Court upheld that the school’s dress code unfairly burdened Sarika’s freedom of religious expression.
Her father Satnam Singh said that he was proud of his daughter for fighting for her rights.
Sarika said that she was happy that she could uphold her faith by fighting for it instead of allowing a bigoted system to force her to change schools.
[Courtesy: Indian Express. Edited for sikhchic.com]
November 26, 2011
Conversation about this article
1: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), November 26, 2011, 9:09 AM.
We get this 5K's and dastaar circus acted out every couple of years, each time with respect to yet another bigot or racist that has crept out of the woodwork, in one part of the world or another. What we need is a Sikh Ambassador (Lord Indarjit Singh from the United Kingdom would be my first choice) to present the Sikh case whenever, wherever such an issue arises, and to spearhead the defence and advocacy.
2: Ravinder Singh Khalsa (U.S.A.), November 26, 2011, 9:10 AM.
Every Sikh and every Sikh organization should be ashamed of themselves for not uniting and supporting our fellow Sikh daughter/sister with every ounce of our energy and love. We must become united and stand under a single umbrella even if our individual practices differ ... this is the beauty of Sikhism. I'm with you, Sarika Watkins-Singh! It's time for a revolution against our so called leaders ... it's time for the young to take over.
3: G. Singh (West Midlands, United Kingdom), November 26, 2011, 5:11 PM.
I followed this case very closely. To my knowledge, the Sikh Federation supported this case throughout. This can be easily found out from their office. I simply do not trust the Indian Express.
4: Gurpreet Singh (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), November 26, 2011, 8:20 PM.
This news story sounds fishy. this issue was highlighted widely and it is hard to believe no Sikh organization helped in this case.
5: Gurmeet Kaur (Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.), November 27, 2011, 6:52 AM.
Pure lie. I do not know whether Sarika or the Indian Express is to blame. At least two Sikh organizations supported her in a major way and several local Sikhs were with her throughout. 'United Sikhs' and The Sikh Federation, U.K., were the big ones. 'United Sikhs' has spent several thousand pounds in this case and has the receipts to prove this. There's something odd about this story emanating from India!
6: Sahib Singh (Fremont, California, U.S.A.), November 27, 2011, 7:55 AM.
I followed this case closely and what she is quoted as saying is not correct. Apparently this statement is part of a propaganda to break the unity of the Sikhs and discredit the Sikh organizations that worked hard in this case to help her.
7: N. Singh (Canada), November 27, 2011, 12:19 PM.
Interesting that this article would appear around the time of the United Sikhs' Chase Community Giving win. I believe votes did come in from Sikhs in India, and this is obviously an attempt to 'divide' the community and create mistrust around Sikh organizations! Cheap shot! But it gives you an idea of how much the Indian media is controlled by the Government forces and how low it will go to further its objectives. We must be constantly vigilant of their lies and ill will. It has taken us almost 25+ years to work out what happened in 1984 since they were so successful at muddying the waters with their crude propaganda.
8: Ranjeet (Southampton, United Kingdom), November 30, 2011, 5:26 AM.
Just read it all here ... http://www.unitedsikhs.org/US_News/US_News_01082008_panthic.php 'United Sikhs has supported Sarika's case since it began at the end of last year. It engaged an eminent human rights lawyer, Stephen Grosz of Bindmans LLP, and an expert witness to assist Sarika Singh's legal team, which successfully argued that the karra is an article of faith which reminds a Sikh of his/her duty to lead a righteous life.'