Sikh sues U.S. Military |
A decorated Sikh-American soldier has sued the U.S. military, alleging that because of his religious beliefs he is being subjected to "discriminatory" testing that no other soldier in the U.S. Army goes through.Captain Simratpal Singh, 28 was in December of 2015 granted a temporary religious accommodation to serve in the U.S. Army while maintaining his Sikh turban, unshorn hair and beard.The accommodation, a rare exception, was scheduled to remain in effect until March 31, but, in an unprecedented step backward, the U.S. Army recently ordered Singh to report on March 1 for "extraordinary, non-standard additional testing as a precondition for remaining in the Army," international law firm McDermott Will & Emery, representing Singh. The firm, along with the Sikh Coalition and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, filed the federal lawsuit against the Department of Defense on behalf of Singh, who has earned a Bronze Star for clearing explosives from roads in Afghanistan, and received numerous other military accolades in various positions.Singh is scheduled to be sequestered for three days to undergo testing that no other soldier in the U.S. Army has ever been subjected to, including the soldiers permitted to maintain beards for medical reasons and previously-accommodated Sikh soldiers, the law firms said.
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