HINDU 'NOSE STUD' WORKER IS REINSTATED
(5 October 2007)

Amrit Lalji, the Hindu woman sacked for wearing a tiny nose stud has won her job back after receiving support from the Hindu Council UK (HCUK) and the GMB Workers Union. Lalji had worked in the VIP lounge at Heathrow's Terminal One for over a year when her employers, Eurest, asked her to remove the stud, saying wearing it was company policy on body piercings. When Mrs Lalji refused, saying the stud held religious significance for her, showing she was a married women within the Hindu faith, Eurest suspended and subsequently sacked her.

On hearing news of Amrit Lalji's sacking, HCUK sprang to her defence, releasing a statement to the media saying that many Hindu women have their nose pierced and fitted with a stud for their wedding as part of the Shringar ritual and, as Eurest allowed wedding bands and sleepers in the ears to be worn at work, there was no reason why she should not be allowed to wear her nose stud.

Subsequently, HCUK was contacted by GMB asking for scriptural clarification on the matter, which was supplied by Dr Raj Pandit Sharma, HCUK's executive member for Hindu Ceremonies. Dr Sharma pointed out that the Shringar ritual at the time of a woman's marriage bestows sixteen different 'marks of a married woman' on the bride, one of which is the wearing of a nose stud.

Dr Sharma told the GMB: 'For females the piercing of the nose as soon as puberty, or before marriage, is stipulated in Hindu Scriptures such as Sushruta Samhita (Chikitsa Sthana Chapter 19). According to the Hindu Ayurvedic scriptures, the piercing of the nose near a particular node (marma) on the nostril lessens the pains of a woman's monthly cycle and facilitates childbirth. These crucial nodes on the human body are known as 'marma', not dissimilar to acupuncture points.

In the religious context, at marriage the bride and a married woman are considered the personification of the Hindu goddess of fortune Lakshmi, this transformation being achieved by the sixteen beautification processes known as Shodash Shringar.'

Yesterday, Eurest reinstated Amrit Lalji, after admitting her sacking had been a mistake. In response to the news, Anil Bhanot, General Secretary of the HCUK said: 'It is good to see how the legislation on religion in the workplace is being put into practice. Britain is clearly set to become a much richer place as our culture is beginning to assimilate the beauty of God's diversity.'

Amrit Lalji will return to work on Sunday.

INDIAN GIRL CAN WEAR NOSE RING TO SCHOOL
By Fakir Hassen, Johannesburg, Oct 7 (IANS)

Similarly, a court in South Africa has said that a school's refusal to allow an Indian girl to wear a nose ring violated her constitutional right to abide by her religion and culture. Sunali Pillay started the legal battle three years ago after the elite Durban Girls High School banned her from wearing the nose ring, which she said was part of her south Indian Tamil culture.

The 100 rand ($14) ring cost the family hundreds of thousands of rands in legal fees as they went through various courts, finally emerging victorious in the Johannesburg Constitutional Court, the highest court of the land. Chief Justice Pius Langa Friday said that encouraging students to practice their religious and cultural beliefs in school was something to celebrate and not to be feared. The judge ordered that Pillay could not be banned from wearing the nose ring if she was giving expression to her religious or cultural beliefs by doing so.

Ironically, Pillay will not get any benefit from the ruling, as she completed her high school education at the institution in 2006. But the ruling will benefit many other students in similar situations, especially since the decision of the Constitutional Court is now binding on all schools. The matter first went to the Equality Court, which ruled in favour of the school after it argued that the ring did not comply with its code in terms of which girls were not allowed to wear any kind of jewellery except a watch.

Dissatisfied, Pillay appealed to the Supreme Court, which ruled in her favour, only to find the school enlisting the aid of the Constitutional Court. However, the Constitutional Court found that rules prohibiting wearing of jewellery had the potential of direct discrimination as it allowed some students to practice their religious beliefs in school while prohibiting others.

The court accepted evidence that by wearing a nose ring, Sunali had adopted a voluntary practice of her Tamil culture that had inseparable links with the Hindu faith.