Kara Sahib, originally uploaded by sikhphotos.org.

This week, the High Court will hear a case involving a 14-year-old girl "excluded from her school for wearing a Sikh religious bangle."

Anna Fairclough, Liberty’s Legal Officer representing the Singhs, said: “Sarika Singh has suffered humiliating isolation and is being denied a proper education simply because she wears the Kara, a small bangle worn by virtually all Sikhs both in and out of school and work. It is astonishing that the school continues to exclude her despite almost universal condemnation and 25-year-old House of Lords precedent.”

Singh, of mixed Welsh/Punjabi origin, has been brought up in the Sikh faith and is the only Sikh at the Aberdare Girl’s School. The school’s uniform policy prohibits the wearing of any jewelry other than a wrist watch and plain ear studs. When the school noticed that Singh was wearing the religious bangle, she was subsequently isolated throughout the day, including meals, for approximately two months.

“The Kara is an article of faith which a Sikh wears from birth. It reminds a Sikh of his/her duty to lead a righteous life. In our experience, a Sikh child has always been allowed to wear a Kara to school,” said Mejindarpal Kaur, United Sikhs director of International Civil Rights and Human Rights Advocacy.