Sikh judge defends right to wear kirpan
Age Correspondent
LONDON, Feb. 8: Britain’s first Asian judge Mota Singh, QC, who was honoured with a knighthood in the 2010 New Year Honours List, has said that baptised Sikhs should be allowed to wear kirpans to schools and other public places.
Seventy-nine-year-old Sir Mota, who is retired now, was educated in Kenya and moved to Britain after Kenya’s independence. He was called to the bar in 1967, appointed as Queen’s Counsel in 1978 and as a circuit judge in 1982.
Making a case for allowing Sikhs to wear kirpan, which is a symbol of their religion, Sir Mota told BBC Asian Network, “I see no objection to a young Sikh girl or boy, who’s been baptised, being allowed to wear their kirpan if that’s what they want to do.”
He said that he had worn kirpan in court too. “I wear my kirpan and I’ve always worn it for the last 35 to 40 years, even when I was sitting in court or visiting public buildings, including Buckingham Palace,” he said. He said the rising number of cases in Britain where school children have not been allowed to wear kirpans, or in case of a Welsh schoolgirl, her kara, could be dealt with sensitivity.
“I think these are issues that can be dealt with a certain amount of sensitivity. The girl not allowed to wear the kara is a petty thing for the administrators to have done and it doesn’t do them any good.”
