Sikh Man Loses Right to Wear Turban in Driving Licence Photo After EU Court Ruling

November 28, 2008

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Daily Mail

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1090031/Sikh-man-loses-right-wear-turban-driving-licence-photo-EU-court-ruling.html

A Sikh man who wanted the right to wear a turban while being photographed for his French drivers' licence has lost his case in the European Court of Human Rights.

Shingara Mann Singh, a French national, lost a series of appeals in France against the authorities who refused to issue a new licence with a photograph of him wearing a turban.

Under French regulations, motorists must appear 'bareheaded and facing forward' in their licence photographs but the Sikh religion requires men to wear a turban at all times.

Mr Singh, 52, took his case to the ECHR but the Strasbourg-based court dismissed the case.

It ruled that 'identity photographs for use on driving licences which showed the subject bareheaded were needed by the authorities in charge of public safety.'