Sikh student arrested on North Carolina university campus for wearing kirpan

United States: A Sikh student was apprehended for wearing kirpan, which is a curved dagger carried by most Sikhs as part of their faith. The officials of the university are being criticized after the happening. 

The incident occurred on Thursday in a student union building at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte. A 44-second video of the incident was posted on Friday afternoon on Twitter, where it has since been viewed over 3.5 million times.

Moreover, Kirpans are one of five symbolic articles central to the expression of faith for baptized Sikhs, as well as are often blunt and sewn into the sheath.

The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund executive director, known as SALDEF, Kiran Kaur Gill, mentioned in the statement, “It’s really unfortunate that we’re here in 2022 and still having these issues.”

“It is a way of practising as well as showing faith. A lot of times, you can’t even remove them from the sheath.”

At least 500,000 Sikh Americans live in the United States, as per the Sikh Coalition, which is a community advocacy agency based in New York City. 

Along with this, the United States community has been the target of hate crimes. As well as in the month of April 2021, about four Sikhs were killed as a part of a mass shooting that claimed eight lives at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, Indiana.

On Twitter, a video was shared, the unnamed student, wearing a turban, sitting across from another student in a communal area of the university’s student centre, with the sheathed kirpan slung around his shoulder.