Sikhs can carry 'Kirpan' in airports: aviation security

New Delhi: The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) retracted a recent order banning the employees from carrying Kirpan in person on airport premises. On March 4, when BCAS banned possession of the dagger inside Indian airports, the leading Sikh religious organisation Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) had slammed it, PTI reported.

BCAS removed the ban on March 12.

A kirpan is a curved dagger, which according to the Sikh religion, must be worn close to the body.

BCAS had ordered on March 4, "Kirpan may be carried only by a Sikh passenger, on his person, provided the length of the blade does not exceed six inches and the total length does not exceed nine inches". It said that the dagger is allowed while travelling by air on Indian aircraft within India.

"This exception shall be for Sikh passengers only as stated above. And, no stakeholder or its employee at the airport (including Sikh) and working in any terminal, domestic or international, shall be allowed to carry Kirpan on the person," it added.

However, on March 9, SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami wrote a letter to Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, mentioning the BCAS order and alleged that it was an attack on Sikhs.

Following that, BCAS made a correction to the March 4 order, removing the paragraph that prohibited Sikh employees from bringing Kirpan to any airport.