Update: Sikh Finds Legal Aid in Action Against NYPD

June 5, 2004

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/05/nyregion/05sikh.html?ex=1088049600&en=560e60fac2dfe911&ei=5070&ex=1087099200&en=

On June 5, 2004 the New York Times reported, "Sikh who was dismissed by the Police Department after he refused demands that he shave his beard and not wear his turban on the job will be aided in his lawsuit against the department by the New York State attorney general's office. The Sikh, Amric Singh Rathour, is suing on the grounds of religious discrimination, and his lawyers, Ravinder Singh Bhalla and Avi Schick, the deputy counsel to Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, confirmed yesterday that they had met on Thursday to discuss Mr. Rathour's case and that they would be working together... Two months ago, in an unrelated case, an administrative law judge found that the Police Department had violated the civil rights of another Sikh traffic enforcement agent, Jasjit Singh Jaggi, 36, when it threatened to fire him if he did not cut his hair and remove his turban. Mr. Jaggi, who resigned, had filed a complaint with the city's Human Rights Commission."