Punjab Police Headgear Policy for Women Officers Against Sikh Principles

—A new ruling that requires headgear for women police officers has sparked a controversy throughout the state of Punjab. Over half of the women police officers include Sikhs, with many being Amritdhari. The new Government law would require Sikh women to adorn caps as per the requirements of the police uniform. This is against the standards of the Sikh religion as Sikhs consider it blasphemy to wear any other headgear apart from the turban, especially hats.

This new law has put both the Akali Dal and the Akal Takht management into question as both are silent on the new mandatory requirement. The Akali Dal has often engaged itself in fighting for the Sikh Right to Turban in France, but in its own State, it is requiring Sikh women to wear caps.  While this may be due to safety precautions, some Sikhs say the Government could have taken an alternative approach to solving the problem of bare-headed police officers.

The Akal Takht Sahib government appointed Jathedar has also remained quiet on the issue even though it affects the Sikh community at large. Ideally, the Akal Takht Sahib could pass a ruling suggesting Sikh women should adorn keskis (or small turbans).

But for quite some time, the Takht leadership has taken no strong steps to promote Gurmat to the larger Sikh community.  While it is considered wrong for Sikh women to wear caps, it is also against the Sikh norms to remain bare-headed. This could allow the Akal Takht Sahib an opening to intervene and make appropriate suggestions to solve the problem.

In the past, Sikh women had the option to wear “salwar kameez” whilst on duty but later this was overturned as shirt and trousers were also made mandatory for women in the Punjab police. Although such moves by the Punjab Government are thought to be for the safety of its workers, better policies are required which would not requires Sikh women to wear caps.

These changes come amidst growing discontent over the recent appointment of accused human rights criminal Sumedh Saini as Director General of Police. Sikh24, along with other news outlets, has documented his racism against Sikhs as well as his willingness to go to great lengths to hurt the Sikh nation.