New Delhi, October 8, 2004
R. Suryamurthy
Tribune News Service

The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) has decided to move the European Court of Human Rights against the French law banning the wearing of turban by Sikhs in government institutions.

Counsel for the DSGMC, Mr KTS Tulsi, told The Tribune that the petition would be filed on October 11 challenging the Law of Secularism enacted by the French Government, which prohibits Sikhs and members of other religious groups from wearing articles of faith, religion and ethnic identity in public schools and regulate their wearing at the workplaces.

Mr Tulsi, a former Additional Solicitor-General of India, said the turban was an integral part of Sikh religion and the Secularism Law violated the UN and European conventions, to which France was a signatory.

The Secularism Law came into effect from September 2, 2004.

The petition said the law denied the right to Sikh children to attend government schools while practising their religion.

The petition sought to secure recognition of right of Sikh children of wearing turban while attending government schools in France. It sought a direction to the French Government to act in accordance with the international conventions and treaties to which it was a party.

The petition said the French law on secularism violated Articles 18 and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 9 of the European Convention for the protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedom.

DSGMC president Prahlad Singh Chandhok told The Tribune that turban was a religious symbol for Sikhs. “Unshorn hair is not a mere fetish or a practice, but an integral, essential and inalienable element of the Sikh faith itself,” he said.

He stated that since France subscribed to various conventions being part of the European Union, it could not implement the Secularism Law.

The petition said the French law was in total contrast to the law in UK, where the House of Lords ruled that Sikhs were not only a religious sect but a race and almost a nation.

On this basis it was held that schools in the UK, both state and private, could not deny Sikh children from wearing turban.

The United Kingdom has exempted Sikhs from wearing motor cycle crash helmets.

Asked about the authority of the European Court, Mr Tulsi said it had persuasive powers and widespread influence in the European Union.

Going by the record, so far no order of the European Court has been violated by sovereign members of the European Union, he said.

Although the European Assembly cannot set aside any law framed by a sovereign nation, any resolution passed by it on the basis of the order passed by the European Court has a bearing.

When asked about the time period within which such cases are disposed of by the European Court, Mr Tulsi said, “Generally, it takes around three to four months. But, we would plead before the court to speedily dispose of the matter.”