Washington: An Amritdhari (initiated) Sikh student was allegedly manhandled by the police at the University of North Carolina in the US.
According to the information, this is not a case of apartheid or hatred. This case took place over wearing Kirpan (Siri Sahib).
The Amritdhari Sikh student had arrived at the University of North Carolina by wearing Siri Sahib, one of the five articles of Sikh faith, but there he was asked to take off it by cops.
On this, the Sikh youth told the uniformed police officer there that this is part of five Sikh kakaars (symbols of Sikh faith) and he can’t remove it.
After this, the police officer started trying to remove the kirpan himself while youth sitting on a sofa.
Later, the police officer handcuff the youth and arrested him.
The video of the incident went viral and there is immense anger among the Sikh community demanding action against the cop.
UNC, Charlotte chancellor Sharon L Gaber and chief diversity officer Brandon L Wolfe released a joint official statement said that our diversity makes us a better, richer, more successful community.
“We apologize that is not what this young man felt in our union yesterday. We are committed to ensuring it doesn’t happen again”, further reads the UNC Charlotte statement.
Meanwhile, former Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee president Manjinder Singh Sirsa also tweeted and strongly condemned it.
He said that despite numerous global campaigns to create awareness about Sikh Kakaars, it’s disheartening to see the Campus Police at University of North Carolina detain a Sikh youth for his Kirpan. I condemn the discriminatory attitude of University authorities towards Sikh students.
“We demand an apology from Campus Police & Univ Admn at @unccharlotte that detained a Sikh youth for his Kirpan, a quintessential part of Sikh Kakars. We are in constant touch with @IndianEmbassyUS and @MEAIndia to ensure the Amritdhari student is released with due respect,” he tweeted.