US traffic police calls Sikh driver ‘terrorist’
Monday, 30/09/2013
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130930/punjab.htm#2
New York : A Sikh truck driver in the US has alleged that the traffic police in Mississippi had called him a “terrorist” and that a county judge had later humiliated him by describing his turban as “that rag”.
Jagjeet Singh, 49, a trucker from California, was driving through the Mississippi state when he was pulled over for driving with a flat tyre in Pike County on January 16, according to a complaint filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and United Sikhs.
Police officers called Jagjeet a “terrorist” and had him arrested for declining to remove his kirpan, a symbol of Sikh faith.
When he returned to Mississippi for his court date in Pike County, Judge Aubrey Rimes ordered him out of the courtroom because he did not like his turban calling it “that rag” and threatened to punish him unless he removed it, the ACLU said in a press note.
“The officers' shameful treatment of Jagjeet Singh was an abuse of their authority and a betrayal of the public's trust that law enforcement officials will carry out their duties free from prejudice,” said Bear Atwood, legal director at the ACLU, Mississippi.
“The fact that officers may be unfamiliar with Sikhism or other minority religions does not give them the licence to harass and degrade members of the public who follow those faiths,” Atwood said.
The letter sent to Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) officials demands that they provide public documents relating to Jagjeet Singh's detention and arrest and urges them to implement a training programme to educate officers about their responsibility to treat every person with dignity and to remain respectful of religious diversity.
“Sikhs deserve the same protection as all other people of faith. No person should be harassed and discriminated against by law-enforcement and judicial officers merely because he practises a minority religion,” Manmeet Singh, staff attorney for United Sikhs, said.
In response to an investigation by the US Department of Justice, the county revised its harassment and non-discrimination policy to explain that religious discrimination includes forcing an individual to remove a religious head-covering.
