RIGHTS GROUP TO INITIATE LEGAL ACTION ON KADA ISSUE
By Prasun Sonwalkar, London, November 14, 2007 (IANS)

Prominent London-based human rights organisation Liberty - headed by Shami Chakrabarti - is mounting a legal challenge against a school in Wales for excluding a Sikh student for wearing a kada, a symbol of Sikhism. Sarika Singh, 14, has been excluded from the Aberdare Girls School on the ground that wearing the kada violates its code of conduct.

Liberty has announced that it will initiate legal action for punishing and excluding Sarika, who was reportedly isolated from her class for two months because of her insistence on wearing the kada. Pupils in the school are only allowed to wear a wristwatch and one pair of plain metal stud earrings. She was also banned from the school's physical education classes since May, despite her offer to remove or cover the bangle during PE sessions.

Liberty said it would argue that the governing body of Aberdare School had violated the Race Relations Act 1976, the Equality Act 2006 and the Human Rights Act 1998. It said that the Law Lords had determined that Sikh children could wear items representing their faith, including a turban, to school.

Anna Fairclough, Liberty's legal officer representing the Singhs, said: "The governing body of the school has ignored established race and equality protections and shamefully turned a young woman into a pariah by isolating her. Legal precedents established 25 years ago make clear that she should be allowed to wear the kada without being intimidated by the school."

Sarika, of mixed Welsh-Punjabi origin, has been brought up in the Sikh faith and is the only Sikh at the school. She became a devout Sikh during a visit to Amritsar in 2005. Her mother, Sanita Singh, has strongly protested against the school's actions. Sanita said after Sarika was again excluded from the school on Tuesday: "We feel very strongly that Sarika has a right to manifest her religion. She is not asking for anything big and flashy, she is not making a big fuss."

Head teacher Rosser said: "We have a strict and clear code of conduct that has been in place for many years. A copy is given to all girls before they are even a pupil at the school and is also issued at the start of every new term in September.

"We use this established code of conduct to ensure equality between all pupils. The code clearly states the only two forms of jewellery that girls are allowed to wear in school are a wristwatch and one pair of plain metal stud earrings."

Wayne Lee, a spokesperson for the Valleys Race Equality Council that is supporting Sarika, said: "Sarika is very upset and wants to go back to school. She is a good student and she wants to see her friends like any other 14-year-old."

A spokesperson for the Welsh Assembly said rules on uniform were a matter for schools' governing bodies, but issues such as equality and health and safety should be considered. He added: "Whether a school uniform policy breaches the Race Relations Act 1976 is a matter for the courts."

In October 2006, Liberty was involved in the religious freedom cases of Aisah Azmi, who was suspended by the Headfield Church of England Junior School in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, for wearing the full Muslim veil, or niqab, while working as a teaching assistant, and of Nadia Eweida, a Christian British Airways check-in worker, who claimed she was forced to take unpaid leave after refusing to remove a small cross from her necklace.