30 May 2013: A SIKH has failed in a legal challenge to a refusal to allow him wear a turban after completing his training for the Garda Reserve.
Ravinder Singh Oberoi was told he would have to wear a garda hat as part of his uniform and not be allowed to wear a turban after he completed the first three stages of training for reserve force.
He claimed in a High Court challenge against the Garda Commissioner that as a result he was unable to continue his training and become a member of the reserve.
He made a complaint under the Equality Acts claiming he had been treated less favourably in accessing employment and in his conditions of employment.
The Garda Commissioner argued that the Equality Acts do not apply to members of the Garda Reserve as they are not "employees" within the meaning of the Acts and are volunteers without contracts of employment.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Kevin Feeney agreed a member of the reserve is not an employee and he could not ignore the clear meaning of the Garda Siochana Act under which members of the force are employed.
Under law, members of the Garda Reserve were volunteers and did not provide their functions under a contract of employment, he said.
There is also no obligation to provide work to a member of the Garda Reserve, he said.
Many in training for the reserve are already in full-time employment and would not want to be full-time members of the garda, he also said.
While some members of the reserve use their role as a springboard to becoming members of the full-time force, it cannot be said that training to be a member of the reserve is "exclusively" concerned with training to be a member of An Garda Síochána, he said.
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Related Article:Turbans and the Garda Uniform.
Máiréad Enright
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| Sikh Police |
The Irish Times reports on the annual Garda consultation forum with minority groups, which took place on Friday. Participants at the forum discussed the new Garda diversity strategy, which was published in May. The Garda reserve force can now boast a few members who are immigrants to Ireland, which is part of the reason why this sort of strategy is required. At the forum, Dr Jasbir Singh Puri argued that the police force was only partially open to ethnic minorities. In August 2007, Ravinder Singh, a Sikh member of the Garda reserve force in his 20?s was forbidden to wear a turban while on duty. The now defunct NCCRI had recommended that the Garda allow Sikh members to wear the turban while in uniform, but the police force seems to have thought best to ignore that advice. At the time of the original controversy, the Garda explained its uniform rules on the basis of the imperative of impartiality in policing, attempting to make the issue one of operational effectiveness, albeit broadly understood. John Leamy, the Garda ‘diversity champion’ took a similar approach on Friday. He said that when members of the force put on their uniform, they “leave their own personal beliefs outside the organisation.” Sikh representatives, however, are attempting to link the garda turban ban to a broader pattern of discrimination against Sikhs in the sphere of employment, grounded in a pro-assimilation mandate. At the forum, Dr Jasbir Singh Puri argued that the police force was only partially open to ethnic minorities.”You talk about openness, but the door is not fully open, it is partially open. You are denying the fundamental right to employment to all Irish children. These are Irish-born Sikh children.” Certainly, at the time of the 2007 debate, the Minister for Integration took the position that “[i]f we’re to take integration seriously…people who come here must understand our way of doing things’. The Irish Sikh Council decided not to mount a court challenge to the policy. Ronit Lentin has more analysis of the debate here.
