The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has taken cognisance of an incident where a Sikh woman was allegedly asked to remove her ‘kakar’ (Sikh religious symbol) kirpan during the Rajasthan’s judicial services examination held at a center in Jodhpur on June 23.
While SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami, in a release issued in Amritsar on Sunday, alleged that the “girl was not allowed admission in the examination centre”, in Chandigarh, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal condemned the incident in which Armanjot Kaur, an advocate and Amrithdari Sikh from Jalandhar, “was barred from taking her judicial services exam for not parting with her kirpan, which is one of the five kakars and is a part of the Sikh Rehat Maryada”.
Maintaining that the incident was a “big violation of the Constitution”, Dhami said that strict legal action should be taken against the officials of the examination centre, “who stopped the Sikh girl from attending the judicial examination while wearing kirpan”.
Dhami urged Rajasthan chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma to intervene immediately, asking him to take strict action against the guilty officials.
SAD chief Badal demanded the Rajasthan CM order arranging a special examination for Kaur as she missed it for “no fault of hers”. “This incident is against the sacred practices of our religion and I am not only deeply saddened but also surprised that the targeting of the most patriotic Sikh community continues even 77 years after independence. The Sikh community made unprecedented and unparalleled sacrifices in the freedom struggle,” Badal said.
“I also urge the Rajasthan CM to ensure that the guilty members of the concerned exam staff are given an exemplary punishment,” he added.
