A SIKH trainee prison officer has lost a compensation bid after being fired from a jail near Burton for trying to wear a ceremonial dagger while on duty.
The Birmingham Employment Tribunal decided the prison authorities were justified in banning Jagdip Singh Dhinsa from wearing the six-inch dagger, called a kirpan, because of fears it may encourage violence among prisoners at Dovegate Prison, near Marchington.
Of the 1,130 prisoners at the all-male Category B prison, 400 were on life sentences, tribunal judge Nigel Roper said at the latest hearing.
“In general, it is a prison for serious offenders as many have committed violent offences,” he said.
Mr Dhinsa, 26, from Derby, made compensation claims of race discrimination and harassment against Serco, the private company which runs Dovegate Prison, and against the Secretary of State for Justice Ken Clarke at a previous hearing.
Mr Dhinsa withdrew a claim for unfair dismissal at that stage.
The case was adjourned for further consideration of an application by Mr Dhinsa for compensation on the other two issues.
Mr Dhinsa said he was obligated to carry the dagger at all times because of his religious faith as an Amritdhari Sikh.
But both Serco and the Government department opposed the claims.
At the latest hearing, Mr Roper rejected both of Mr Dhinsa’s remaining claims after he said he had been told that there were 16,000 recorded assaults within prisons in England and Wales in 2008, involving 1,800 weapons.
These incidents included 3,100 assaults on prison staff.
Mr Roper said the tribunal had been told there was a blanket ban on the daggers in prisons and that the only person allowed to wear one was an Amritdhari Sikh prison chaplain.
He said this was because wearing of the dagger could cause violence among prisoners and also lead to increased dangers to staff.
Mr Roper said the tribunal had been told that Amritdhari Sikh prison officers at Birmingham Prison were allowed to wear replica kirpans, which were harmless.
But he said Mr Dhinsa was not prepared to carry a replica.
“We can see no good reason, in the circumstances, to draw any inference that the ban was enforced on the grounds of race, religion or belief and accordingly, the claims are dismissed,” said Mr Roper.