NEW DELHI (July 26, 2015)—Equating CBSE’s strict dress code for All India pre Medical Test (AIPMT) with that of French ban on religious symbols, the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) on Saturday announced to legally challenge the decision of Jaipur based school for allowing a Sikh baptist student to appear in the examinations only after removing his kara and kirpan, two of the 5K’s of Sikhs. “If minority Sikh community is religiously discriminated in this manner in their own country then what can we expect from the governments of other countries especially where Sikhs are already being discriminated for their distinct identity” questioned DSGMC president Manjit Singh GK, while talking to TOI, after receiving complaint of discrimination from the victim student Jagjit Singh on Saturday.
Notably CBSE had announced strict dress code after Supreme Court had asked to re conduct the pre medical test held on May 3rd following complaints that some of the students had used devices hidden under their garments. Reportedly the dress code prevented students from wearing full sleeve shirts, earnings, nose rings , shoes etc.
GK said that such a directions were not only discriminatory but also against the right to faith and worship which were protected by Article 25 of the Constitution.
He questioned that if the Sikhs could go to Supreme Court or in the parliament wearing their religious symbols then how could a Sikh student be stopped from appearing in examinations. “It is unfortunate that in our own country we have to resort to legal course to save our distinct identity” adding that such a decision would give a major blow to Sikh’s image and identity at international level.
General secretary of DSGMC, Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that DSGMC would go up to Supreme Court to defend Sikh’s right of wearing their religious symbols. “We are preparing to file a case against the management of Sadhu Vaswani School, Adaresh Nagar, Jaipur for discriminating against a Sikh student and forcing him to remove his religious symbols” alleged Sirsa.