A Sikh, who sued the Jobcentre where he worked after a colleague suggested a remote control helicopter be landed on his turban, has won his case for religious harassment.

Mojhinder Bal laughed when colleague Amid Uddin began flying the toy round the Jobcentre Plus office, ‘landing’ the device on desks and cabinets.

But the devout Sikh took offence when another colleague, Sue Ramjan-Coley, suggested Mr Uddin land the device ‘on Mo’s turban – he’s got a flat surface’.

During the incident on November 27 2007, Mr Bal, then told Ms Ramjan-Coley she was ‘obsessed’ with his turban and suggested she get one for herself.

To this she allegedly replied ‘I could do with one, I’m having a bad hair day’, though the tribunal concluded that this comment was not made in an offensive way.

Although Ms Ramjan-Coley denied suggesting the helicopter be landed on the claimant’s turban, the judge ruled against the Jobcentre, and found that the comments were ‘inherently racist’.

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1335289/Sikh-Mojhinder-Bal-sues-Jobcentre-religious-harassment.html

As part of a series of international conferences supported by the British Humanist Association last summer, IHEU (the International Humanist and Ethical Union) held an international conference on Untouchability, at which Lord Averbury announced plans for research into whether the problem of caste discrimination exists in Britain. The plans are now coming to fruition.

Discrimination on the grounds of caste – or historic social standing in Hindu and Sikh communities – may be happening in the UK, a government peer has said.

Ministers have previously said they did not think people from lower castes were treated unfairly in the workplace.

But Baroness Thornton said evidence may exist. … ”We have looked for evidence of caste discrimination and we now think that evidence may exist, which is why we have now commissioned the research,” she said.

“The proportionate thing is to take the power to deal with that discrimination if and when that evidence is produced.”

Lord Avebury, for the Liberal Democrats, who moved the amendment, said he believed the research would “conclusively prove that caste discrimination does occur in the fields covered by the [Equality] bill”.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8546661.stm

Sikhs should be allowed to wear their ceremonial daggers – known as Kirpans – to school and other public places, Britain’s first Asian judge has said.

There have been a number of cases of Sikhs being refused entry to venues because they wear the Kirpan or other religious artefacts.

Sir Mota Singh QC, who is retired, has criticised schools over the issue.

“Not allowing someone who is baptised to wear a Kirpan is not right,” Sir Mota told BBC Asian Network.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8500712.stm