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Sikhs Go to Court Over
French Law
October 19, 2004, 3:01 PM EDT PARIS -- Sikhs must respect France's new law banning conspicuous religious signs from public schools, the education minister said Tuesday, as three students who refused to remove their turbans took their case to court. The Sikhs' case is the first known court action over the law since it took effect in September. Education Minister Francois Fillon said there remain about 70 cases of students defying the law -- mainly involving girls refusing to remove their Islamic head scarves -- since the measure took effect at the start of the school year Sept. 2. Some 600 cases were counted at the start of the year, but most have been resolved through dialogue -- as called for in the law -- avoiding expulsion, Fillon said on France Inter radio. The law bans conspicuous religious signs and apparel, including Jewish skull caps and large Christian crosses. But Muslim head scarves were the main reason for the ban. The law is intended to uphold France's constitutionally guaranteed principle of secularism, considered undermined by a growing number of Muslim girls wearing head scarves in public school classrooms. Authorities have also said they view the law as a way to fight rising Muslim fundamentalism in France and to protect the rights of women, widely viewed here as submissive to men if they wear head scarves. France's small Sikh community, an estimated 5,000-7,000 people, was forgotten during a marathon debate before the law was passed in March. For traditional Sikhs, the external appearance is sacred, and men and boys who practice the faith wear turbans to cover their unshorn hair. Fillon made clear Tuesday that the turbans of Sikhs also fall under the law. "There is a Sikh community which is very small, which poses no problem, but the law applies to everyone," he said. "Sikhs must respect the law like others." Sikhs were the first to take the issue to court. They asked an administrative court Tuesday for an urgent decision on the case of three Sikhs kept out of class at the Louise Michel school in the Paris suburb of Bobigny for refusing to remove their turbans. The Sikhs want the boys returned to their classes or the school to convene a disciplinary council to break the deadlock over the turbans. "Today, we're in a situation of non-decision," said Antoine Beauquier, a lawyer for the Sikhs. "The children have effectively been excluded" without having been expelled, he said. "They must quickly make their way back to the classroom." The court was expected to reach a decision Wednesday, Beauquier said. A disciplinary council at a middle school in Mulhouse, in eastern France, was to meet later Tuesday over the case of two Muslim girls who refuse to remove their head scarves.
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