In a similar instance, two other Sikhs were also prohibited from taking their A level exams on Friday. The lifting of the ban on wearing kirpan comes after round the clock interventions by the leaders of Nottingham Sikh community and the United Sikhs legal team with the college authorities.
A 16-year-old Amritdhari Sikh girl Parminder Kaur was shell-shocked after she was removed from her Sociology exam at the Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College, allegedly because she was wearing a kirpan.
Said Parminder, “Over the past 24 hours and more I have been feeling stressed and upset at the extremes of which I never believed would be possible, after being removed from my Sociology exam where other students were clearly able to see what was happening.”
She conveyed her agony to UNITED SIKHS who called on local community leaders and families of the students’ for getting the matter resolved. “As the students were not being allowed to sit their exams on Friday, we instructed a prominent human rights London law firm, Bindmans LLP and engaged the services of the Equality and Human Rights Commission,”, UNITED SIKHS Legal Director Mejindarpal Kaur stated.
Parminder was delighted to be back in college wearing her kirpan. “I am glad that the college is allowing me and my fellow Gursikh brother and sister back in. Most of all I am delighted that I have been allowed back into the college to complete my exams wearing my kirpan,” Parminder added.
