Sikh marine officer, 3 recruits move court for religious freedom

Wednesday 20th April 2022 08:44 EDT
 
 

WASHINGTON: Sikh Marines filed a lawsuit against the Corps saying they were being forced to choose between staying in the service or following their faith. The suit was filed on behalf of USMC Captain Sukhbir Singh Toor and pre-accession Marine recruits Milaap Singh Chahal and Aekash Singh; BakerHostetler joined in representing pre-accession Marine recruit Jaskirat Singh.

The Sikh Coalition in a press release said, it was joined by pro bono co-counsel at Winston & Strawn LLP, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and BakerHostetler, along with the support of Sikh American Veterans Alliance in filing the lawsuit.

“Despite more than a year of efforts to engage in good faith, the USMC continues to sideline our clients due to their articles of faith,” Giselle Klapper, Sikh Coalition senior staff attorney, said in the press release. “Treating a Sikh’s beard, a core tenet of the faith, as merely optional is unacceptable.”

Chahal and J. Singh intend to join the USMC as enlisted Marines, and A. Singh intends to join the Marine Corps Reserve. According to the press release, each of them applied for a religious accommodation last year, and so far, the accommodations don’t go far enough. They are still barred from maintaining their beard and unshorn hair on deployments where they would receive Hostile Fire or Imminent Danger pay, even though deployment to the front lines is essential to service in the USMC. In addition, all three have been told that they must forsake their articles of faith for the duration of their time at boot camp, the Sikh Coalition said.

The three men issued a joint statement: “We remain ready to meet the high mental and physical standards of the Marine Corps because we want to serve our country alongside the best. We cannot, however, give up our right to our religious faith while doing so–not least of all because that is one of the core American values that we will fight to protect at all costs as proud US Marines.”

Capt Toor was granted a historic, “but incomplete and inadequate,” accommodation by the USMC in June of 2021 after first applying for an accommodation in March of that year, the Sikh Coalition said. It argues that like the pre-accession recruits, Toor’s accommodation prohibits him from maintaining his beard when he is serving in a significant portion of the world, for a person of Toor’s experience.

“The alleged safety concerns that the USMC is using to justify this restriction have long since been mitigated by other branches of the US Armed Forces and militaries around the world,” it adds.


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