SACRAMENTO: In a development that is likely to help restore the Sikh community's faith in an evolved democracy's capacity to respect human rights of minorities, the state Personnel Board ruled that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation discriminated against a Sikh man from Folsom by insisting he shave off his beard before he could become a prison guard.
The CDC violated Trilochan "Obe" Oberoi's right to practice his religion when it told him he had to shave to pass a gas mask fit test before being hired.
Oberoi, 62, a former commander in the Indian navy and captain in the Indian merchant marine, said he was more ready to die than to cut his beard.
That the development comes at a time when the SGPC in India is telling a superior court that one sect of Sikhs can continue cutting the hair and still remain in the larger Sikh fold is all the more shameful for those in India managing the religious affairs of the community.
The CDC, which employs 25,000 correctional officers to manage 152,000 inmates in 33 adult institutions, told Oberoi he must be clean-shaven to ensure a gas mask would fit properly.
Oberoi migrated to the US in 1999 and became a citizen. He's now a cashier at Wal-Mart and an assistant math teacher at a Rancho Cordova elementary school. He had applied to become a correctional officer in 2005 and fulfilled norms regarding physical abilities and vision test etc but when it came to taking a gas mask fit test, he was told the beard just cannot stay.
Incidentally, Oberoi wore gas masks for a Nuclear Biological Chemical Damage Control course in the Indian navy without incident.
Administrative Law Judge Gregory Brown noted the CDC has hired correctional officers who can't shave their beards because of skin conditions.
Since the CDC allows those employees to use a different gas mask, "it is difficult to imagine why it cannot extend the same accommodation to CO's who cannot shave for religious reasons," wrote Brown in his decision last month.
Brown ordered the CDC to try to accommodate Oberoi and expedite his application.
Oberoi's lead trial attorney, Harmeet Dhillon, called the ruling a victory for religious freedom in California.
The CDC now has until Dec. 18 to appeal the ruling.
