US court favours Sikh religious rights in armed forces

March 05, 2016 08:28

Upholding the religious freedom rights of Sikhs in the US armed forces, an American court has ruled in favour of a decorated Sikh Army Captain who had demanded that the military accommodate his articles of faith and abandon its impromptu discriminatory testing.

Captain Simratpal Singh, 28, in a lawsuit filed against the Department of Defence demanded the US military accommodate his articles of faith and dump the discriminatory testing.

"Thousands of other soldiers are permitted to wear long hair and beards for medical or other reasons, without being subjected to such specialised and costly expert testing of their helmets and gas masks," Judge Beryl A Howell swiftly ruled in Captain Singh's favour last evening.

The US Department of Defence, which had granted and then extended Captain Singh's temporary religious accommodation until March 31 this year, remains scheduled to make a final decision on Singh's permanent accommodation by that deadline.

Captain Singh, who is a West Point graduate, Ranger, and Bronze Star Medal recipient, has successfully passed the safety tests required of his unit.

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