Sikh lawyer from Maharashtra seeks entry into SC with ''kirpan''

Satya Prakash
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 7

A Sikh lawyer from Maharashtra is facing problems in entering the Supreme Court as security personnel have objected to his 10-inch 'kirpan'.

Amritpal Singh Khalsa -- who hails from Ulhasnagar, Thane district in Maharashtra -- raised the issue on Thursday before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.

"We will certainly look into it," the Bench told Khalsa who has to appear as a party in person in a PIL seeking ban on production of black film in the top court on Friday.

"Every time I enter the apex court I am humiliated, made to feel as I am an untouchable. I am denied entry to court premises just because I carry a kirpan for which the security denies entry citing its length to be more than six inches," Khalsa said in a letter addressed to the CJI.

He said the only reason he could think of for being stopped from entering the high-security zone of the Supreme Court was "that I being a Sikh carry Kirpan, which the security perceives to be a threat".

He asserted that the Constitution guaranteed the freedom of wearing and carrying 'kirpan' without any restriction on its size.

"The Constitution in plain and crystal-clear terms allows wearing and carrying kirpans, and there is no legislation/rule to regulate the size of kirpan, and this right is a fundamental right guaranteed under Part-III of the Constitution of India," the lawyer said in his letter to the CJI.

Khalsa requested the court "to ensure that young lawyers like me are not humiliated, insulted, tortured, and appropriate instructions are issued to security department, so that not only I but other Sikhs too are allowed to wear and carry Kirpan in court premises".