Sikh woman accuses jail staff of removing her headgear

Bathinda, Punjab: A woman visiting the Bathinda Central Jail today accused its staff of removing her headgear in the name of security and checking.

The elderly woman, Manjit Kaur, wife of Jathedar Randhir Singh from Gehri Bara Singh village, said she had come to meet her two sons lodged in the jail here. She went inside the jail after following all the due procedures and security checks. She claimed that she was talking to her sons when two female members of the jail staff came and told her to come out for checking. On the orders of a head constable, they removed the headgear she was sporting, she alleged.

The women said the government was adopting double standards over the turban issue. “On the one hand, the government is opposing the removal of ‘dastar’ by security personnel in foreign countries while on the other hand, its employees are hurting the religious sentiments of people like me,” said Manjit Kaur.

She said her two sons Asa Singh and Bagga Singh were lodged in the jail for the past sometime after they opposed demolishing of a village gurdwara and confronting the authorities demolishing the religious place.

Jail Superintendent Raj Mahinder Dhaliwal did not take the calls made on his mobile phone to seek his version on the matter.

Source: The Tribune