Explained: How Sikhs won right to keep beards and turbans when joining US Marines

A court has ruled that the US Marines must now let Sikhs with beards and turbans join. This comes after the US Marines, citing the need for unit cohesion, refused to make a grooming exemption for three men during 13 weeks of basic training and potential combat periods. Let’s take a look at the case, why this is a big deal and past victories for the community: What happened? Three recruits – Aekash Singh, Jaskirat Singh, and Milaap Singh Chahal –  who cleared the entrance tests into the US Marines sought an exemption from a Marines grooming rule requiring them to shave their hair, beards and turbans. The men argued that their beards were an expression of commitment to their religious faith. In the Sikh religion, it is mandatory for the male adherents to not trim their hair and beard along with keeping kanga (wooden comb), kirpan (small sword), kara (steel bracelet), and a white cotton undergarment (kachera).

But the Marine Corps insisted that the three men shave their heads before enlisting in basic training.

As per the Washington Post, the Marines’ ban on facial hair applies in basic training and “combat zones,” a designation the plaintiffs said in court covers over three dozen countries where hazard pay is given,. The US marines claimed that beards will impact “troop uniformity” and appearance among recruits, ultimately threatening national security. The Marine Corps allows medically required beards and diverse hairstyles for women, and has relaxed its rules around tattoos. In 2021, NPR reported that the Marines planned to address its lack of diversity and retention problems. Approximately 75 per cent of Marines leave at the end of their four-year term, the highest turnover rate among the military services, according to the article. How the case unfolded In September, a lower-court judge denied their request for a preliminary injunction that would have allowed the men to enter Marine Corps Basic Training with their articles of faith, as per the Marine Times. “It is perverse to claim that respecting ‘the individual desires of Marines’ to have full-body tattoos … is consistent with the Marine Corps’ image, but that respecting (the four Sikhs’) desires to be faithful to God is somehow antithetical to the idea of cohesiveness and uniformity within the service,” read the original complaint filed in April, which included a fourth recruit who is no longer attached to the case, the report said. The men in October then moved an emergency plea in the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit against Marine Corps Commandant David H Berger. Brian Springer, a Justice Department lawyer representing the Marine Corps, told the court the “country’s chief expeditionary force” has the right to insist on greater uniformity among recruits during basic training. “The plaintiffs are seeking extraordinary relief and the alteration of long-standing Marine Corps training policies,” Brian Springer, an attorney for the federal government was quoted as saying by Military.com. But Judge Patricia Millett, nominated to her position by former president Barack Obama, said that the argument “makes no sense, because nobody during boot camp is going out as an expeditionary force.”

On Friday, a  three-judge bench of the US Court of Appeals ruled in their favour.

The Marine leadership argued that recruits needed to be “stripped of their individuality” as part of a “psychological transformation” toward shared sacrifice, according to the ruling. But the  court said that the Marines did not present any argument that beards and turbans would affect safety or physically impede training. The court noted that the Marines exempted men with razor bumps, a skin condition, from shaving, allowed women to maintain their hairstyles and largely permitted tattoos – “a quintessential expression of individual identity.” “If the need to develop unit cohesion during recruit training can accommodate some external indicia of individuality, then whatever line is drawn cannot turn on whether those indicia are prevalent in society or instead reflect the faith practice of a minority,” said the decision written by Judge Millett. The court also pointed out that regulations on beards date only from 1976, with hirsute Marines posing no issue from the Revolutionary War to the modern period. While military practices can evolve, any claim of “inflexible necessity” cannot “completely ignore past practice,” the decision said. “They are now suffering and will continue to suffer grave, immediate, and ongoing injuries to the exercise of their faith,” the bench said. Judge Millett added that the Sikh recruits “not only have a substantial likelihood of success on the merits—it is difficult to imagine them losing.” “She noted that the Marine Corps has never explained why the Corps cannot apply the same or similar [religious] accommodations that the Army, Navy, and Air Force, and Coast Guard provide,” Baxter said. The US Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard all accommodate the religious requirements of Sikhism. ‘Major win for freedom’ “A federal court has just ruled that Sikhs can maintain their religious beards while serving their country in the US Marine Corps. Now, three Sikh recruits, who had previously been denied religious accommodations, can enter basic training,” lawyer Eric Baxter, who represented the three men, tweeted. “This is a major ruling for religious freedom—for years, the Marine Corps has barred Sikh recruits with religious beards from entry into basic training. Today’s ruling strikes down that rule as a “violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA),” he said. “No one should have to choose between serving God and country,” he added in a series of tweets. “Sikhs have a long tradition of serving in militaries around the globe, motivated by their religious teaching to defend the defenseless. We are grateful that these Sikh recruits can continue that tradition—the ruling was made right in time for them to enter boot camp,” Baxter tweeted. “They believe, as part of their religious duty, in defending the rights of others,” Baxter told National Public Radio (NPR). “This was also a win for our national security. At a time of historic recruiting shortfalls, the Marines now have access to a new community of Americans who have a history of bravely serving in the military,” he tweeted. “They should really just recognise it’s time to make this change and let all Americans serve without having to abandon their religious – their core religious belief,” Baxter said. Giselle Klapper, a senior staff attorney at the Sikh Coalition advocacy group, hailed the ruling, saying it meant that “faithful Sikhs who are called to serve our country can now also do so in the US Marine Corps.” What happens next? The court issued a preliminary injunction to allow two of the recruits, Milaap Singh Chahal and Jaskirat Singh, to begin training with their articles of faith while a district court more fully weighs the case. The appeals court also backed the merits of the case of the third plaintiff, Aekash Singh, but said he appears to have delayed enlistment. This is not the first time the Marine Corps has been asked to make an exception for its recruits. In 2021, the Corps allowed Marine Capt. Sukhbir Singh Toor and others to keep beards, turban, and other faith articles in uniform. However, they weren’t deployed or in ceremonial billets, according to Marine Times. Past victories for Sikhs This isn’t the first time that Sikhs have won such victories for their faith. In 2016, the NYPD, the largest police force in America, introduced rules allowing police officers to wear turbans instead of traditional police hats and grow beards up to a half-inch long for religious reasons.

Beards were earlier forbidden because they interfered with wearing gas masks.

Officers were required to get approval, ensure their turbans were navy blue with the NYPD insignia attached. That same year, Sikh drivers successfully sued a trucking company over discrimination. The company failed to provide a religious accommodation by offering an alternative to Singh and two other men who refused to provide hair clippings for drug testing samples and to a fourth man who wouldn’t remove his turban before providing a urine sample for testing. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .