The ruling comes after 3 recruits fought to get immediate exemption to the Corps’ boot camp rule
New York: In a historic move, a federal appeals court has ruled that Sikhs recruits in the US Marine Corps can keep a beard and wear turbans, an IANS report in The Tribune, Chandigarh, says
Judges from the District of Columbia’s federal appeals court cited the Apresent Corps’ boot camp rule of cutting hair and shaving beards as a violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
The ruling came after three Sikh Marine Corps recruits — Aekash Singh, Jaskirat Singh and Milaap Singh Chahal — fought for an emergency appeal in District of Columbia’s federal court to get an immediate exemption to the Corps’ boot camp rule.
“Now, three Sikh recruits, who had previously been denied religious accommodations, can enter basic training,” Eric Baxter, senior counsel who represented the Sikh trio, tweeted.
Previously the Marine Corps had denied all these requests, due to which the trio for had remained ‘poolees’ or standbys ineligible to attend actual boot camp training.
It was their (the Marine Corps) contention that allowing Sikhs to keep beards would disrupt troop uniformity and appearance among the recruits, ultimately threatening national security.
The US Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard already accommodate the religious requirements of Sikhism.
Judge Millett stated the Sikh recruits “not only have a substantial likelihood of success on the merits, it is difficult to imagine them losing”.
She noted the Marine Corps had never explained “why the Corps cannot apply the same or similar (religious) accommodations that the Army, Navy, and Air Force, and Coast Guard provide”, Baxter wrote in a series of tweets.
And Judge Millett said it was clear in light of “the exemptions already made for other Marine recruits’ beards, hair, and other individual physical indicia,” as well as the Corps’ “own history of flexible grooming and uniform requirements” since its creation in 1775.
******************************************************************
Readers
These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.
Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world. We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.
Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.
In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.
For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com
