Maria Strauss recently posted on the press report about the Sikh defence solicitor who sued the MoJ for religious discrimination after being refused admission to HMP Belmarsh because his turban was held together with pins. The MoJ settled before the case came to trial.

Hard on the heels of this comes the news that the Home Office has updated the Detention Services Order dealing with search procedures, following  an incident in which Gurpreet Singh Johal, a trainee solicitor at Glasgow law firm Bilkus & Boyle and a baptised Sikh, was told that he would need to remove his kirpan in order to be allowed entry to a detention centre to see a client. Continue reading →