After laws were passed banning the carrying of any knives in public & especially on school grounds the Sikh community have been protesting that they are being religiously discriminated against because all Sikh men are required to carry a ceremonial knife called the Kirpan which they secret on their person.
Now our Appeals Court has found in their favour & say they have been discriminated against & the ban on them is invalid.
They will be free to carry these knives in public & on school grounds but no one else will be allowed.
This decision comes even after factional fighting in a Sikh community where these ceremonial knives & swords were used as weapons in QLD
& the instance of a stabbing on school grounds in Sydney leaving a student with life threatening injuries.
Then the perpetrator walked free from court with merely a 3 year correctional order.
A knife is a knife this is sheer bloody madness from our Judiciary.
SIKHS IN LEGAL WIN TO CARRY KNIVES
VANESSA MARSH - TOBY CROCKFORD
Kids will be able to carry sharpened blades in schools after the state’s highest court found Queensland’s weapons legislation barring Sikhs from carrying religious knives on school grounds is racial discrimination and therefore invalid.
Sikh woman Kamaljit Kaur Athwal has won a fight against the State of Queensland over a provision in the Weapons Act prohibiting the possession of a knife on school grounds for genuine religious purposes.
(Why a woman? women don't wear Kirpans)
Initiated Sikhs are required to wear or possess five articles of faith at all times, including a ceremonial sword known as a kirpan, typically worn sheathed and concealed beneath clothing.
A Department of Education spokeswoman said, “As this legal decision has just been handed down, the department will now consider any implications”.
The Court of Appeal judgment stated the kirpan “comes in a variety of different shapes, sizes and degrees of sharpness/bluntness”.
Under Queensland law, there is a reasonable excuse to possess a knife for genuine religious purposes, such as the Sikh faith.
But that
does not extend to schools, with the legislation stating, “however, it is not a reasonable excuse to physically possess a knife in a school for genuine religious purposes”.(& that should still be the case)
In 2021, Ms Athwal made an application to the Supreme Court seeking a declaration that the Weapons Act was inconsistent with the Racial Discrimination Act and was therefore invalid.
In September last year, Justice Sue Brown dismissed her application.But the
Court of Appeal has this week overturned the decision, finding the provision directed at Sikhs affected
“their exercise of freedom of movement and freedom of religion in a significant way”.
“An initiated Sikh, who may be a student, a parent of a student or a teacher, is given the choice of committing an offence against (the Weapons Act), never entering a school or contravening the tenets of their religious
belief by entering a school without physical possession of their kirpan,” the appeal judges wrote.
“By making provision that is directed at their religion, s51(5) in its substantive operation provides for Sikhs to enjoy the rights to freedom of movement and freedom of religion to a more limited extent than persons of other ethnic groups.
“No other group finds their freedom of religion or freedom of movement limited in that way, by a law directed to a unique feature of the ethnic group’s religious beliefs.”
(what other religious groups carry knives as a religious tenet?)
The appeal judges set aside the earlier order dismissing Ms Athwal’s application.
A declaration was made that section 51(5) of the Weapons Act 1990 is inconsistent with the Racial
Discrimination Act 1975 and was therefore invalid under the Commonwealth Constitution.
Former Brisbane Sikh Temple head priest Kuldeep Singh said the kirpan was a symbol of a Sikh’s commitment to their faith. “You cannot be Sikh without a kirpan,” he said.
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