Sarika Watkins-Singh, a teenager, who won a landmark victory in the British High Court in 2008 upholding her right to wear the kada to school as a symbol of her Sikh faith said that no Sikh organisation in the UK supported her as she fought the legal battle all alone.
Sarika, who is half Welsh and half-Sikh, said that it was the British media that supported her throughout and played an important role in highlighting the case. Her victory in was later hailed as a groundbreaking achievement as it set a new benchmark for religious expression in public space. She was talking to mediapersons at her native village, Mannan, in Hoshiarpur district. Sarika is visiting her place for the first time after winning the legal battle. Villagers accorded her a warm welcome for fighting for her religious right.
It may be remembered that Sarika was barred from attending classes in the Aberdare Girls’ School in the Welsh town of Aberdare in November 2007 for breaking its “no jewellery” rule. Then the only Sikh student in the 600-strong school, Sarika had appealed the school authorities to allow her to wear kada, which is an article of faith. The girl refused to take off the religious symbol following she was excluded from attending classes.
Later, she filed a case against her school under the UK’s anti-discrimination laws. The British High Court upheld that the school’s dress code unfairly burdened Sarika’s freedom of religious expression. Her father Satnam Singh said that he was proud of his daughter for fighting for her rights. Sarika said that she was happy that she could uphold her faith by fighting for it instead of changing the school.