Chandigarh: After the Supreme court of Italy on last Monday last upheld the decision of the lower court to ban Kirpan from wearing it in public, appellant Jatinder Singh is all set to take his case to European Court of Justice.
Representational Image.
While interacting with the media a local Sikh institution called Sikh Sewa Society said that “Jatinder Singh along with a section of Sikh community here is contemplating to take kirpan ban case in the European Court of Justice.”
Meanwhile, confusion persists whether the Italian court’s kirpan ban order was for an individual Sikh migrant living or for the entire Italian Sikh community.
People like Jagjit Singh perceives that the recent court’s decision on wearing of kirpan was for an individual migrant Sikh and there was no panic among other Amritdhari Sikhs of Italy who continues to wear symbolic 4cm (1.6 inch) kirpan.
There are some sections who suggest that the orders are for the Italian Sikhs as whole but in the absence of court judgment their presumption was entirely dependent on media reports.
Society’s president Jagjit Singh claimed that court had ruled in a particular case filed by Jatinder Singh, who was caught wearing 18 cm ( nearly 7 inches) long blade kirpan on March 6, 2013 while he was leaving his home in Goito, Northern Italy following which he moved the court, said the media sources.
Jagjit Singh further said that the Italian High Cassation Court ordered a fine of Euro 2000 on Jatinder Singh on February 5, 2015 . While fighting for his right to wear the ‘long’ kirpan Jatinder Singh appealed in the upper court.
He further stated that the Supreme Court of Cassation, the highest court in Italy upheld the High Court’s decision and banned Jatinder Singh to carry kirpan in public and ruled that migrants in the Western world must conform to the values of the society they have chosen to settle in.
Furthermore, he said following the court’s order Society had appealed to all the Amritdhari Sikhs living in Italy to wear a 4cm size Kirpan to avoid such circumstances till there was some government notification on size of Sikh’s kirpan.