A Sikh woman sued the Internal Revenue Service this week, alleging that the IRS violated her religious freedom by prohibiting her from wearing a small ceremonial knife to her job as a revenue agent.
The lawsuit, filed in Houston federal district court on Tuesday, states that the IRS fired Kawaljeet Kaur Tagore in July 2006 because she refused to take off her kirpan, an article of faith that Sikhs are required to wear at all times. The blunt blade, worn sheathed, is intended to remind the bearer of a Sikh's duty to protect the weak and promote justice.
Tagore, 35, is the same woman who said she and her family were harassed by Harris County sheriff deputies in November after calling 911 to report a burglary at their home. An investigation by the sheriff's Internal Affairs Division is ongoing.
"Our government is tasked with securing our religious liberties, but in Ms. Tagore's case, both the federal government and the local government not only failed to secure her rights, but trampled on them," said Harsimran Kaur, legal director of the New York-based Sikh Coalition. "Both incidents underscore the governments' ignorance about Sikhism and about the kirpan in particular."
The coalition, along with the D.C.-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and Houston civil rights attorney Scott Newar, filed the suit against the IRS on Tagore's behalf.
The IRS banned the kirpan as a so-called dangerous weapon, even though the government allows hundreds of sharp scissors, letter openers, knives and box cutters in the Mickey Leland Federal Building in downtown Houston, where Tagore worked, Newar said.
"There's never been any allegation that she had somehow taken the kirpan and used it as a weapon — that's not what its purpose is," Newar said. "It's a symbolic religious article that Sikhs have carried for centuries. It's like a Cross, it's like a Star of David, it's like any other religious ornament. It just happens to have a blade."
IRS spokeswoman Lea Crusberg declined to comment on pending litigation.
According to the suit, Tagore began working for the IRS in July 2004. On April 14, 2005, she was formally initiated into the Sikh faith.
After the initiation, a Sikh is obligated to wear five Sikh articles of faith, including the kirpan. The articles serve as a public expression of the Sikh faith.
"It's a religious uniform just like a Jew wears a yarmulke or a Priest wears a white collar," said Kaur, of the Sikh Coalition.
The articles must be worn at all times, even if a Sikh is threatened with the loss of property, freedom or life, she said.
A few days after her initiation Tagore began wearing a 9-inch kirpan sheathed under her shirt to work. She informed her IRS supervisor, who "expressed concern about her ability to carry her kirpan in her workplace," the lawsuit states.
Tagore agreed to carry a shorter kirpan to work. This one was 6 inches long with a 3-inch blade. It was not sharp or capable of inflicting bodily harm, and never triggered the Leland building's metal detector, the lawsuit states.
On April 20, Tagore provided the IRS with information about the kirpan and requested, through counsel, that she be allowed to carry it in the workplace. Her supervisor told her to leave. He said the kirpan violated agency rules of conduct and federal law prohibiting people from possessing knives with blades of 2.5 inches or longer in federal facilities.
Kaur, of the Sikh Coalition, said there's no prescribed length for a kirpan.
"It's really up to an individual and their understanding of the faith," she said. "For Ms. Tagore, she felt that she began carrying a smaller kirpan that was as small as her religious conscience would allow."
The IRS allowed Tagore to work from home for nine months, but in January 2006, the IRS director of field operations ordered Tagore to modify her kirpan and report to the Leland Building by the end of the month.
When Tagore showed up with the same kirpan, officers with the Federal Protective Service barred her from the building. She was fired in July 2006.
Tagore's lawsuit seeks lost pay and reinstatement with restoration of benefits and seniority, as well as compensatory and punitive damages.
In the last few years, employers like AT&T and organizations like the International Monetary Fund have reversed bans against Sikh kirpans across the country, Kaur said.
Tagore, who later found a job as a tax consultant with a Houston firm, has no problem carrying a kirpan in her new office, she said.
Tagore did not return phone calls for comment. Kaur said she has been advised by her attorneys not to speak to the media.
Harris County sheriff's spokesman Paul Mabry said news of Tagore's lawsuit will not affect the ongoing internal affairs investigation into her family's alleged harassment by deputies, an incident sparked in part by the same kirpan.
Family members have said they called 911 on Nov. 26 when their home in the10800 block of Oak Bayou Lane was burglarized. But instead of investigating the break-in, they said, the responding deputy became alarmed when he noticed Tagore wore a kirpan on her hip. The deputy aimed his Taser at her and called for backup, Tagore has said.
Other deputies arrived and began cursing and handcuffing family members, including Tagore and her 60-year-old mother, relatives have said.
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