Indian Unis Can Bar Brow Plucking Sikhs

[Mehtab Singh]

http://www.watoday.com.au/breaking-news-wo...90531-brnf.html

An Indian court has upheld a decision by a religious body to deny a female student who plucked her eyebrows admission to a Sikh university, media reports said on Sunday.

The ruling said faith-based educational institutions had the right to refuse admission to students who did not meet religious standards, as "maintaining hair unshorn is an essential component of the Sikh religion", according to the Press Trust of India.

The policy had been challenged by Gurleen Kaur after she was denied admission to the Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical Sciences and Research in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar.

Kaur was excluded on the grounds that she was not a "true Sikh as she was plucking her eyebrows", according to the Times of India.

Sikhism requires men and women to keep their hair uncut at all times, and many men sport lengthy beards and wear turbans to cover their long hair.

Kaur's petition was supported by male students who had also been refused admission to the university because they trimmed their beards.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court, which jointly serves both states, said it was "perfectly legitimate" for Sikh organisations to refuse any benefit to members of the community who did not strictly adhere to religious tenets.

Avtar Singh Makkar, the head of the Sikh body which administers the college in Amritsar, said he was happy with the judgment.

"Our stand that unshorn hair is of paramount importance for Sikhs has been vindicated," the Times quoted him as saying.

About 24 million people follow the Sikh faith in India, with a majority of them living in the state of Punjab.

[big5abi]

I personally do not believe that an organization can based on physical appearances determine who or what a sikh is. Complete rubbish..

[Mahakal]

Oh well lucky you aint in charge

[+Singh_is_King+]

Good.

I am glad about this.

People are leaving Sikhi left right and centre.

There need to be some good and clever counter strategies to make the prospect of leaving Sikhi less attractive.

This is one of them

Well done

NO SURRENDER

[saint-soldier]

there heart maybe in right place but this aint the right way to go. like i keep my kesh yet i have seen people who try to keep there kesh but every couple of months they end up cutting there hair. but they are still far ahead of me when it comes to spirituality. now whose a sikh, a moorakh like me who keeps his kesh yet fails to do paath most of the time or someone who struggles to keep there kesh but does paath and all kinds of seva at gurudwara sahib every week?

instead they should be welcoming sikhs who have cut there hair in order to guide them on the right track. coz rejecting them is not going to make them keep there kesh. well it might make some of them keep there kesh but it would be for the wrong reasons. and whats the point in that? punjab is already full of people who keep there hair yet do everything sikhi tells us not to do.

or maybe its someone else job to bring whose who are getting away from sikhi back into the panth, but them trying wont hurt nobody.

[GuptSinghani]

This decision does seem harsh and does automatically wipeout 98% of the Sikh community, however Sikhi has never been about numbers.

We need good quality Sikhs!

Perhaps those now outcasted will feel motivated to be a part of the Panth. Well hopefully!

[big5abi]

This is a sad story... The sikhs of today are brainwashed by british tat-khalsa ideology. Even sehajdharis in the past had never suffered this sort of exclusion. It's sad to see how much bhasauria and other mind-sets have influenced todays sikhi. more than half of the people on this forum are inlfuenced by it, whether they know it or not.

If i was left in charge, I would refuse akal sehnas application

[1kAuR1]

This is a sad story... The sikhs of today are brainwashed by british tat-khalsa ideology. Even sehajdharis in the past had never suffered this sort of exclusion. It's sad to see how much bhasauria and other mind-sets have influenced todays sikhi. more than half of the people on this forum are inlfuenced by it, whether they know it or not.

If i was left in charge, I would refuse akal sehnas application

Dont think of this as an exclusion but more like an entrance criteria, to get into any school or any faith you must make some commitments to it. If you are not strong enough as a person to do so then you cant get in. This exclusion is for calling yourself a Sikh, how can you be a sikh and not follow the basic tenents of Sikhi? seems like a big contradiction.

[big5abi]

the glass can be seen as half full or half empty. i regard this as an exclusion and not entrance criteria. Entrance criteria should be based on academics and not appearances. if that girl was academically superior to other students I find it absurd to not grant her admission. the amount of stress laid on appearances is so much so, it seems that morals and ethics are forgotten. I know of "sikhs" who constantly hide behind their illusory beards and kesh and commit manmat acts. But im sure they would be just perfect for this school.

[saint-soldier]

the glass can be seen as half full or half empty. i regard this as an exclusion and not entrance criteria. Entrance criteria should be based on academics and not appearances. if that girl was academically superior to other students I find it absurd to not grant her admission. the amount of stress laid on appearances is so much so, it seems that morals and ethics are forgotten. I know of "sikhs" who constantly hide behind their illusory beards and kesh and commit manmat acts. But im sure they would be just perfect for this school.

thats the point i was trying to make. we gotta give more importance to spirituality in the beginning and then that person will himself/herself realise the importance of keeping kesh.