Sikhs go to court over French turban ban

Sikhs must respect France’s new law banning conspicuous religious signs from public schools, the education minister said yesterday, as three Sikhs refusing to take off their turbans brought their case to court.

The Sikhs’ case is the first known court action over the law since it took effect in September.

Education Minister Francois Fillon said there remain about 70 cases of students defying the law – mainly involving girls refusing to remove their Islamic headscarves – since the measure took effect at the start of the school year on September 2.

Some 600 cases were counted at the start of the year, but most have been resolved through dialogue – as called for in the law – avoiding expulsion, the minister said on France Inter radio.

The law bans conspicuous religious signs and apparel, including Muslim headscarves, Jewish skull caps and large Christian crosses.

Fillon made clear yesterday that the turbans of Sikhs also fall under the law.

“There is a Sikh community which is very small, which poses no problem, but the law applies to everyone,” the minister said. “Sikhs must respect the law like others.”

France’s small Sikh community, an estimated 5,000-7,000 people, was forgotten during a marathon debate before the law was passed in March. However, Sikhs were the first to take their troubles to court.

For traditional Sikhs the external appearance is sacred, and men and boys who practice the faith wear turbans to cover their unshorn hair.

Sikh leaders have asked for an urgent decision in the case of three Sikhs kept out of class at the Louise Michel school in the Paris suburb of Bobigny for refusing to remove their turbans.

A disciplinary council at a middle school in Mulhouse, in eastern France, was to meet over the case of two Muslim girls who refuse to remove their headscarves.