£200,000 Bill For School In Sikh Bracelet Battle

[JagtarSinghKhalsa]

£200,000 BILL FOR SCHOOL IN SIKH BRACELET BATTLE

Saturday April 18,2009

Penny Stretton

A SCHOOL that lost a High Court battle in a dispute over a religious bracelet has been landed with a £200,000 legal bill, it emerged yesterday.

And education bosses have been ordered to pay the student banned from wearing the Sikh Kara bangle damages believed to be at least five figures.

Aberdare Girls’ School, in Aberdare, Wales, is reeling from the bill, which includes an invoice from human rights group Liberty, who brought the case on behalf of Sarika Watkins-Singh, 15.

The school’s own legal fees top £76,000.

Early last year, Ms Watkins-Singh was excluded from school for refusing to stop wearing the bangle, which she claimed was fundamental to her religious belief.

The school denied any racial discrimination and Ms Watkins-Singh spent nine weeks being taught in isolation because the bangle was against its uniform policy.

Her Sikh bangle

The school was originally given legal help from the local authority, Rhondda Cynon Taf Council, but when it refused to back down and instead opted to fight the case in the High Court, the free advice was withdrawn.

Miss Watkins-Singh won the case after a three-day hearing last June, in which her exclusion was ruled to be “unlawful”.

The school, with an annual budget of around £2.2million, has already paid £60,000 to Liberty but disputes an extra bill of £80,000.

Yesterday critics slammed the massive cost of the case as “a waste of taxpayers’ money” and claimed pupils will “suffer” as a result.

TaxPayers’ Alliance spokesman Mark Wallace said: “This case means a headache for the taxpayer who will ultimately be forced to stump up.”

He added: “This just emphasises the need for schools to be given full control of their rules and regimes without risk of politically correct enforcement. The problem in this case arose because of interference from other parties.”

Ms Watkins-Singh’s case caused controversy last year when it emerged that she had been excluded from school.

In November, it was thought that the legal bill would amount to the school’s £76,000 costs.

But now campaigners say the school should never have taken the battle to the High Court.”

Chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, Nick Seaton, said: “This is £200,000 which is likely to come out of the school’s budget. It means that the students will suffer.

“I think it was unwise to pursue it to those lengths.” It is thought the costs have been met from the school’s reserve funds.

Ms Watkins-Singh’s mother, Sanita, said the damages claimed were for the disruption caused to her daughter’s education. She has never returned to the school and has been receiving tuition at home.

Link to Daily Express article

[HSD*^]

ha, serves them right. they had that 'have your say/daily mail' attitude that they could enforce what they like. and now they got owned. so they should stump up the cash. and before you moan, the school is in wales - most of the kids will probably go onto benefits when they leave. lol just kidding.

so a white english judge (who actually knows the law), overturned their dumb policies. well that should get the 'silent majority' to finally shut up for once.

[sikhlionz]

taxpayers alliance my bakside!

sikhs contribute more to the british economy than most communities and what do we get in return?

anti-sikh laws, rules, regulations and red-tape that prevents us from going about our daily business and restricts our way of life.

a bill for ten times this would be too low. a message needs to be sent that if you get in the way of a sikh's right to freely practise their faith - you will pay a heavy price.

[dalsingh101]

Good, they should've found something better to make a hue and cry about than someone wearing a kara.

[singh211]

name='JagtarSinghKhalsa' date='Apr 18 2009, 08:51 AM' post='401118']

TaxPayers’ Alliance spokesman Mark Wallace said: “This case means a headache for the taxpayer who will ultimately be forced to stump up.”

He added: “This just emphasises the need for schools to be given full control of their rules and regimes without risk of politically correct enforcement. The problem in this case arose because of interference from other parties.”

Or to put it another way... This case emphasises the need for schools to ensure that their rules and regimes are compliant with the law and are not discriminatory. The problem in this case arose because the school board believed it was justified in going against the advice of its own local authority and wasting taxpayers money in its misguided war on political correctness.

Jagtar Singh - Is the Sikh Federation pushing for a code of conduct for Sikh articles of faith in the classroom? If not it should do so and use this case as the perfect example of the need for one

[buddasingh]

This was a completely stupid case carried forward by the school based on someone's personal racist dogmatic belief. The personal motive was funded at the risk of the school and/or insurance company. Regardless of result, the motive also ensured the unwarranted suffering for the plaintiff student.

What is the name of the person who was the controlling mind or had the authority to give the final instructions to the lawyers to proceed? Was it an education official, and insurance adjuster? That person should be fired without delay and investigated! Lets have some names.

If it was the lawyers who were giving the opinion that there was solid legal ground to stand on in the face of a different opinion by the person giving the instruction, then that should be made public along with the name of the lawyers.

[dalsingh101]

Watch the whinging white populace use this as some sort of premonition of the downfall and utter ruination of their way of life.............

"The countries going to the dogs innit, effing pakis!!"

[Nirvair S Khalsa]

UK school to foot £200,000 bill

London, April 19

A British school has been asked to pay a £200,000 legal bill, including damages to a Sikh student, in a racial discrimination case over banning her from wearing a religious bangle.

The high court has ordered the Aberdare Girls' School in Wales to pay the student damages believed to be at least five figures, leading British newspaper The Sunday Express reported.

The legal bill also includes an invoice from human rights group Liberty, who actually brought the case on behalf of 15-year-old Sarika Watkins-Singh.

The incident dates back to early last year when Singh was excluded from school for her refusal to stop wearing the bangle, which she claimed was fundamental to her religious belief.

Though the school denied any racial discrimination, Singh spent nine weeks being taught in isolation as the bangle was against its uniform policy. She won the case last June, in which her exclusion was ruled to be “unlawful”. Critics have slammed the massive cost of the case as “a waste of taxpayers’ money” and claimed pupils will “suffer” as a result. — PTI

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090420/world.htm#4