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| Morning assembly taking place in John Bosco school in Shimla. |
Apr 28, 2012 - SHIMLA: Sikhs in Shimla are on a warpath over the turban issue that has rocked the city recently. Members of the community protesting the admonishing of a student for wearing turban to school have threatened an agitation if talks with the district administration, fail.
On Thursday, members of the Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha - a Sikh organization -- submitted a complaint to deputy commissioner Omkar Sharma. President of the group, Jaswinder Singh had complained that a student of standard XI of St Edwards School here was asked to leave the class for wearing a turban.
While the incident happened in the beginning of the academic session, Singh said that they protested only after the school management did not heed their request to allow the boy to wear a turban.
Jaswinder Singh alleged the school principal, Father John Bosco, asked the boy, a student of standard XI, to leave the classroom for having the turban on. He was asked to wear a 'patka' instead. The boy has been attending school in a 'patka' since then.
ADM (law and order) NK Lath has called for a meeting between sabha members and the school authorities on Saturday to find out a solution.
"The principal has asked parents of the boy to send an application, seeking permission to wear a turban in school," said Singh.
"Wearing the turban is a our right and not allowing this has hurt our sentiments. We will begin an agitation from Sunday if the issue is not resolved on Saturday and the boy is not allowed to wear turban," he added.
Meanwhile principal of the school Fr John Bosco while speaking to TOI said,
"There has been no controversy over wearing of turban. We had asked for an application from the parents of the boy seeking permission. It was done to ensure that religious sentiments are not hurt in case the turban fell off his head while playing. We had simply asked for this application, after which he could have worn a turban," said Father Bosco.
"The district administration has reported the matter to the police and both the school authorities and the members of the Sikh body will meet me on Saturday," said Lath.
Related article:
http://www.sikhnet.com/news/centre-seeking-practical-solution-turban-issue-france