The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee has appealed to Union Home Minister Amit Shah to order an inquiry into the discriminatory incident of an Amritdhari Sikh not being allowed to board the metro at Delhi’s Jhilmil railway station for wearing a kirpan and also urged him to issue necessary orders to inform the security forces about the need for five Sikh kakars and Amritdhari Singhs to wear them.
In a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah, the committee’s president Sardar Harmeet Singh Kalka and general secretary Sardar Jagdeep Singh Kahlon strongly condemned the incident at Jhilmil metro station in which the security personnel did not allow an Amritdhari Singh to board the metro railway while wearing a 6-inch kirpan. He said that wearing the Sikh kakkaar is the constitutional right of Amritdhari Singhs and the security guard posted at Jhilmil Metro station has stopped an Amritdhari Singh from boarding the metro as per his own discretion, although it was his duty to protect the constitutional rights of the citizens.
He said that he is drawing the attention of the Home Minister to this incident because an Amritdhari Singh was stopped from boarding the metro at Jhilmil Metro station for wearing a kakkaar. This action of the CISF personnel is a violation of fundamental rights. He said that the religious sentiments of Sikhs living all over the world have been hurt due to this incident.
He further said that it is mandatory for every Amritdhari Singh to wear five kakkaars – kara, kangha, kirpal, kachheera and kes. He said that this is not the first time that an Amritdhari Singh has been stopped. He said that according to Indian law, an Amritdhari Singh can carry a kirpan of up to 6 inches, which can also be up to 9 inches. He said that the incident is also a violation of Article 25 of the Constitution, under which the fundamental rights of citizens have been given in the Indian Constitution, under which citizens have complete freedom in matters of religion.
He appealed to the Home Minister that keeping in mind the religious sentiments of the Sikhs, he should order an investigation into the matter and the guilty CISF employee should also be punished as per the rules and according to the Indian Constitution, the rights of every citizen should be respected.
