Airport Security: Sikh Turban Check - Unique Court Case In Poland

[ShaminderPuri]

A unique Court case is taking place in Poland of a Sikh taking the Polish Airport Security to Court for disgracing Sikh travellers passing through Poland.

The actions started in Oct 2009. Sikhs travelling through Polish airports were being told to remove their turbans for security check - the turbans were then placed on the x-ray scanner and passed through it. No amount of requests that turbans be checked with hand held scanners, or by pat downs were accepted. The Guards seemed to take delight in telling many hapless passengers " take it off, else you will not fly..."

In my case - as a fluent Polish speaker, having graduated from a Polish University, over 30 years ago and having worn my turban through all these years, I was not prepared to sit back & "take this". After explaining many times to the hierarchy of the Polish Border Guard in a series of letters and in several face to face meetings, I decided that I could rest. Warsaw has many Sikhs, a SIkh Gurudwara, which is officially registered as a formal place of worship. The Sikh Community was outraged but seemed to be helpless. I wrote a huge number of letters to many concerned people: the Polish Ambassador in India, the Polish Ambassador in the UK, recruited the support from many senior Polish officials and the many colleagues that I studied with. All attempts to reach some form of dialogue with the Komandant of the Border Guard failed. Even the intervention of the Polish Under Secretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who having been a Delegate at the Polish Indian Trade Summit (Sept 2010) and having heard from the highest Officials in India (HH Preneet Kaur) that more respect could be given to the Sikh Community's distres, was unable to move the Polish authorities.

Consequently having got the support from the Helsinki Foundation of Poland, and with pro bono support from one of the best Polish legal Houses, we launched a Court Case against the Komandant of the Border Guard Service that conducts security check at airports. This gained a lot of publicity of the issue. And a lot of sympathy too. No Sikh was trying to evade the security check...all Sikhs were asking for was to conduct the check in a dignified manner - if scanner or othjer evidence suggested that a security threat existed, then all law abiding people would naturally submit to all other intrusive checks - some fact that the Komandant of the Security Service seemed totally deaf to,

Most interestingly, as the case developed, the Airport Security Gurad turned vindictive - the more the publicity about the injustice, the more they became emboldened to demand stripping off Sikh turbans. Even on the official web site of the association of the Border Guard started to carry insulting and demeaning discussions and some of them directed personally to me !! To cap it all off one of the authors in the e-forum of the Border Guard set up a discussion challenging me by name, yet hiding behind his anonymity in the e-discussion!

The Court Case has had four hearings so far.

The final hearing is set for the 26th Oct 2011. As Plaintiff I shall be giving evidence and setting out my Case against the Komandant. In a nutshell the Case is as follows: After many attempts to inform, educate and raise awareness of the issue of Sikh turbans, the Polish Border Guard has remained deaf to the request for dialogue - instead of taking account of the concerns of Sikhs, the airport security service turned vindictive, human rights have been violated, Sikh sensitivities have been ignored and 'security checks' have been confused with harassment and intimidation of perfectly innocent passengers passing through the airport on their legal business. Consequently an apology is demanded, a payment to a Child Leukaemia research charity of approx € 6000 is demanded and a confirmation that rules are issued to the Border Guards to use non intrusive methods of checks that do not infringe human rights.

I call on the support of the whole of the Sikh diaspora in this legal actions against insults to the Sikh Nation.

[Beginner]

Great work by him

[gurdssingh]

ShaminderPuri Paaji, you have my full support, best of luck with the case. What sort of support do you need?

Theres many Sikhs in Europe esp. UK, I'm sure they are all prepared to offer support. Sardars and money alike. BTW I am mona also.

[Lion of Punjab]

poles are right wing racists , and too think some of our grandparents fought too prevent the whole country turning into a concentration camp

[singh135]

what kind of support is needed

[GPS]

Great work by Bhai sahib. We are all with you. May waheguru bless you.

[ShaminderPuri]

Sat Sri Akal to all who have read or replied to the blog. Thanks you also for the offers of help.

The help that is required is to disseminate the news to as many people as possible - so that they are aware that such a Case is being put forward in a EU Country. The issue of Sikh turban checks arose because of an EU Regulation that requires more stringent security checks at airports. Although there is nothing specific about turbans, or even about hats & caps, many of the European Country airport security services started demanding removal of head gear - this fair enough for hats & caps but not fair for Sikh Turbans for reasons that we all know.

The actions that we have been pursuing with the support of the Helsinki Foundation, a Human Rights NGO, are intended to bring into the EU Regulations a recognition that the Sikh Turban has to be treated as INTEGRAL Clothing that a person wears - in other words, if one is strip searched then a Sikh Turban will have to be removed for a check on a potential threat. While this may occur in 0.1% of passengers, it cannot be applied to 100% of SIkhs. There is no objection by SIkhs to undergo all the normal routine checks and no one denies this. Countries such as the UK do practice this - Turbans are checked by the use of hand held scanners passing over them - a perfectly acceptable approach.

The intention in the Court action in Poland to achieve the same standard as in UK.

If you are interested, please email me and I will send you a sample letter that can be emailed / faxed or posted to the Polish Under Secretary of State in the Ministry of the Interior, Mr Piotr Stachanczyk, who should be asked to better regulate the Airport Security Service - as it is under his Ministry that the Border Guard operates. It is also under his Ministry that the Polish Sikh Gurudwara has been established and provides services to the Sikh Community. His Ministry ihus more than familiar with Sikh, their traditions and the symbol of the Sikh Turban.

Poland is a tolerant and a progressive Country - unfortunately the Border Guard has many renegade officers - it is them that we might bring to justice - and in the process also gain legal recognition that Sikh Turbans can only be removed in situations where there is clear evidence of a potential security threat.

Sat Sri Akal

Wahe Guru ka Khalsa Wahe Guru ki Fateh

[gurdssingh]

Sat Sri Akal to all who have read or replied to the blog. Thanks you also for the offers of help.

The help that is required is to disseminate the news to as many people as possible - so that they are aware that such a Case is being put forward in a EU Country. The issue of Sikh turban checks arose because of an EU Regulation that requires more stringent security checks at airports. Although there is nothing specific about turbans, or even about hats & caps, many of the European Country airport security services started demanding removal of head gear - this fair enough for hats & caps but not fair for Sikh Turbans for reasons that we all know.

The actions that we have been pursuing with the support of the Helsinki Foundation, a Human Rights NGO, are intended to bring into the EU Regulations a recognition that the Sikh Turban has to be treated as INTEGRAL Clothing that a person wears - in other words, if one is strip searched then a Sikh Turban will have to be removed for a check on a potential threat. While this may occur in 0.1% of passengers, it cannot be applied to 100% of SIkhs. There is no objection by SIkhs to undergo all the normal routine checks and no one denies this. Countries such as the UK do practice this - Turbans are checked by the use of hand held scanners passing over them - a perfectly acceptable approach.

The intention in the Court action in Poland to achieve the same standard as in UK.

If you are interested, please email me and I will send you a sample letter that can be emailed / faxed or posted to the Polish Under Secretary of State in the Ministry of the Interior, Mr Piotr Stachanczyk, who should be asked to better regulate the Airport Security Service - as it is under his Ministry that the Border Guard operates. It is also under his Ministry that the Polish Sikh Gurudwara has been established and provides services to the Sikh Community. His Ministry ihus more than familiar with Sikh, their traditions and the symbol of the Sikh Turban.

Poland is a tolerant and a progressive Country - unfortunately the Border Guard has many renegade officers - it is them that we might bring to justice - and in the process also gain legal recognition that Sikh Turbans can only be removed in situations where there is clear evidence of a potential security threat.

Sat Sri Akal

Wahe Guru ka Khalsa Wahe Guru ki Fateh

Sat Sri Akal PaaJi,

Please put a link or copy and paste the sample letter on the forum here. Here more people will then be able to take action and save you time to pm everyone. I for sure will send an e-mail to Polish authorities. BENTI to all other members please also take time and action to send the e-mail.

Also PaaJi, have you contacted Sikh TV channels in UK? e-mail them it will then get the issue to the wider community. If anyone knows of contacts in the channels please infrom them. I will e-mail some asian radio stations where I have contacts.

[ShaminderPuri]

Sat Sri Akal to all Sangat Readers

Here is the sample letter that Members may wish to send on - the email address, fax number and postal address are included:

Name ……………………………….

Address …………………………….

Address …………………………….

Address …………………….............

Date ………………..

Under Secretary of State (Mr PIOTR STACHANCZYK)

Ministry of Internal Affairs & Administration

Ul Stefana Batorego 5, 02-591 Warsaw, POLAND

Fax + 48 22 849 5213

Email sekretariat.Stachanczyk@mswia.gov.pl, minister@mswia.gov.pl

Tel + 48 22 621 0391

Dear Mr Stachanczuk

Targetting of Sikhs by Airport Security Guards: Reply to John Godson, Posel to Sejm: interpelacje nr 22391, sygn. SPS-023-22391/11

It is with deep regret that I have been made aware that the Straz Graniczna, that is regulated by your Ministry, has been engaging in targeting Sikhs who pass through the Polish airports on their legitimate and legal business.

This is further regrettable as your Ministry also supervises the Sikh Gurudwara (Ul Na Skraju, Raszyn, Registration no 166/DWRMNIE-6725-1/07/KW) whose statutes approved by the Polish Government indicate quite clearly, that Sikhs wear turbans as part of their integral clothing. To demand that Sikhs remove these turbans without any clear & verifiable threat is a disgrace and a violent attack on the integrity of Sikh people.

In addition to the above I have also learnt that some renegade Border Guard soldiers under your Ministry, have set up an e-discussion forum on their web sites in which abuse and insults to Sikhs are widely made. In particular one such Guard (alias “Niepokorny”) has even started a personal vendetta against a named a Sikh, with taunts and jibes for daring to take the Straz to Court for totally justified reasons, and has been subjected to repeated assaults on his dignity and human rights.

I call upon you to take this matter very seriously, to investigate this situation, discipline the offending guards and ensure that they are re trained to behave with due respect to the citizens they should serve. These unruly elements in your Ministry need to be brought to a form of order, as they appear not to be able to differentiate between security and harassment.

I recognise that Poland is a highly cultured and tolerant nation. The Polish people suffered tyranny in the past - these unruly civil servants could do with a lesson in history and I call on your good offices to take firm, effective and decisive action.

I would be most grateful if you would respond to me with information on how this situation has been cleared up, and the Straz Graniczna stopped from bringing disgrace to your Country.

Yours etc

Sat Sri Akal to all Sangat Readers

Here is the sample letter that Members may wish to send on - the email address, fax number and postal address are included:

Name ……………………………….

Address …………………………….

Address …………………………….

Address …………………….............

Date ………………..

Under Secretary of State (Mr PIOTR STACHANCZYK)

Ministry of Internal Affairs & Administration

Ul Stefana Batorego 5, 02-591 Warsaw, POLAND

Fax + 48 22 849 5213

Email sekretariat.Stachanczyk@mswia.gov.pl, minister@mswia.gov.pl

Tel + 48 22 621 0391

Dear Mr StachanczykSample_PolishBorderGuard-Protest.doc

Targetting of Sikhs by Airport Security Guards: Reply to John Godson, Posel to Sejm: interpelacje nr 22391, sygn. SPS-023-22391/11

It is with deep regret that I have been made aware that the Straz Graniczna, that is regulated by your Ministry, has been engaging in targeting Sikhs who pass through the Polish airports on their legitimate and legal business.

This is further regrettable as your Ministry also supervises the Sikh Gurudwara (Ul Na Skraju, Raszyn, Registration no 166/DWRMNIE-6725-1/07/KW) whose statutes approved by the Polish Government indicate quite clearly, that Sikhs wear turbans as part of their integral clothing. To demand that Sikhs remove these turbans without any clear & verifiable threat is a disgrace and a violent attack on the integrity of Sikh people.

In addition to the above I have also learnt that some renegade Border Guard soldiers under your Ministry, have set up an e-discussion forum on their web sites in which abuse and insults to Sikhs are widely made. In particular one such Guard (alias “Niepokorny”) has even started a personal vendetta against a named a Sikh, with taunts and jibes for daring to take the Straz to Court for totally justified reasons, and has been subjected to repeated assaults on his dignity and human rights.

I call upon you to take this matter very seriously, to investigate this situation, discipline the offending guards and ensure that they are re trained to behave with due respect to the citizens they should serve. These unruly elements in your Ministry need to be brought to a form of order, as they appear not to be able to differentiate between security and harassment.

I recognise that Poland is a highly cultured and tolerant nation. The Polish people suffered tyranny in the past - these unruly civil servants could do with a lesson in history and I call on your good offices to take firm, effective and decisive action.

I would be most grateful if you would respond to me with information on how this situation has been cleared up, and the Straz Graniczna stopped from bringing disgrace to your Country.

Yours etc

[ShaminderPuri]

I would also like to give the Readers an update from the Court hearing on the 26th Oct.

The Judge viewed the CCTV footage of the five or so incidents in which I had been stopped by the Warsaw Airport Border Guards. The CCTV showed clearly that I followed all the usual steps in preparing to go through the Security check - ie hand over my lap top, briefcase, watch, Kara, belt, metallic objects, belts etc and placed them on the scanner. Then I walked through the walk through scanner - the Border Guards are seen stopping me (there is no sound recording - but I can say that the buzzer did not beep in most cases...). The Guards are seen asking me to accompany them to a separate cabin - I collect my belongings and accompany them to the Cabin - the Cabin does not have CCTV - in that place (rather a claustrophobic area) the Guards start to harass me demanding that I remove my turban... my protestations that they should first check me with the hand held held detector are not recorded, but the Guards ignore my requests .. and I am forced to remove my turban - else I would not be able to travel.

Having been treated in this way on four occasions, I decided to take a stand, and on the CCTV footage of the event, I am seen refusing to go into the booth, asking to be checked in the public area, and then if there is no alarm, to be allowed to continue on with my legitimate journey... The Guards are seen to be ignoring this request - the situation runs on for over 30mins and I miss my flight - but I continued to refuse to remove my turban without there being any evidence that it posed a threat.

The Judge did not make any comment on the 26th Oct - but has adjourned the Hearing till the 14th Dec. On that day a final CCTV footage of another, very serious escalation of the action by the Border Guards will be seen - when one of the Guards who was in Court previously to give evidence in the matter, and confirmed that he knew me, will be seen (in my view) conspiring with another Guard to pointedly harass me - which they did.

Here I would sincerely like to acknowledge the Sikhs Bhai's from the Warsaw Sikh Community who attended the Court to show support for the concern of all Sikhs in World and especially our Gyani ji. who also attended. All support that can be given to the Gurudwara in Warsaw would be most welcome.

As mentioned above, once this last CCTV has been seen - I will be asked to give my full evidence, which I will do.

Sat Sri Akal

Wahe Guru ka Khalsa Wahe Guru ki Fateh