A long-haul truck driver and practicing Sikh was allegedly called a ‘depraved terrorist’ by police and threatened with jail by a judge for wearing a ‘rag’ on his head after being pulled over in Mississippi.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed two complaints of harassment over the case, in which Jagjeet Singh, 49, was arrested for refusing to turn over his kirpan, a three-inch ceremonial dagger that all Sikh men are required to carry as part of their faith.
The blade is typically sewn into the waistband and rarely, if ever, brandished in public.
Singh was driving from California to Texas on January 16 to pick up a chicken delivery when he was stopped by two officers from the Department of Transportation (DOT) for driving with a flat tyre in Pike County, Miss.
According to the ACLU complaint – which is claiming a ‘disgraceful’ infringement of religious rights and has been lodged with Mississippi officials – the officers ‘laughed’ and ‘mocked’ Singh when he attempted to explain his kirpan was not illegal and actually a sacred religious article.
‘One officer declared that all Sikhs are depraved and ”terrorists”,’ the ACLU said in a letter to the DOT.
Singh was taken into custody for refusing to obey a command and was forced to return to Mississippi on March 26 for a court hearing.
At the hearing, Judge Aubrey Rimes of the Pike County Justice Court ejected Singh from the courtroom because of the turban he was wearing, stating that he would not be allowed to re-enter unless he removed “that rag” from his head.
However Singh’s faith mandates the covering and he believes that to unwrap it in public would be both sacrilegious and shameful.
The ACLU have since made their complaints public to condemn Singh’s terrible treatment.
[divide]Source: Daily Mail