Sikh Community concern over airport searches
The Department for Transport has delayed plans to bring in hand searches at UK airport security because of concerns from a Sikh group.
Sikhs are concerned it could mean hand checks of turbans or demands for the religious headwear to be removed.
The changes have already been implemented across the EU.
But a DfT spokesman said: “We have written to airports to advise them to continue using the previous methods of screening religious headwear.”
She added: “These methods do not require all headgear to be touched.
“We will then work with the airport industry and religious communities to find an acceptable long-term solution to this issue.”
At present, passengers walk through metal detectors at UK airports and, if the alarm goes off, they are then searched again with handheld metal detectors.
The new EU rules instead tell security staff to use their hands for the second checks.
Sikhs believe the prospect of having their turbans checked by hand or removed in public is degrading.
The Sikh Federation is worried that the new EU security rules will mean more embarrassment and upset at airports.
“It is disrespectful for anyone else to touch the turban other than the individual (wearer) themselves,” said Dabinderjit Singh of the Sikh Federation.
“It is almost a humiliation. It is very difficult to describe when someone touches your turban. Sikhs regard it as a crown. The reports that we’ve had from France and Italy in the last few weeks is that Sikhs are being asked to remove their turbans, that’s the equivalent of having a strip search but having it in public.”
Wearing a turban is protected by British law. This follows a landmark ruling by the House of Lords in 1983 in a case in which a Birmingham teenager was refused entry to a school because of his turban.
Please sign the petition calling for respect for the Turban at airports here and share as widely as possible