UK Parliament Amends New Weapons Bill to Allow Sikhs to Possess Kirpans

Sikhs in the UK can continue to possess, use, and supply kirpans after the country’s parliament confirmed an amendment to a new weapons bill going through the Parliament.

According to a report by Indian press agency PTI, the Offensive Weapons Bill 2018 completed its various readings in the House of Commons this week and has now moved to the House of Lords for approval.

The bill involves a new offense of possessing certain offensive weapons in public and places new restrictions on the online sales of bladed articles and corrosive products to crack down on rising knife and acid-related attacks in the country, PTI reported.

“We have engaged closely with the Sikh community on the issue of kirpans. As a result, we have amended the Bill to ensure that the possession and supply of large kirpans for religious reasons can continue,” PTI quoted a UK Home Office spokesperson as saying.

The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for British Sikhs led a delegation to the UK Home Office in recent weeks to ensure that the kirpan remains exempt when the new bill becomes law, the news agency reported.

Labor MP Preet Kaur Gill, chair of the APPG for British Sikhs said she was happy to see the bill making it through. “I am pleased to see the government amendment and look forward to seeing an accompanying set of documentation, which reflects the importance of not criminalizing the Sikh community for the sale or possession of large kirpans,” Gill said as quoted by PTI.

Gill, who also happens to be the first female Sikh MP in the House of Commons, along with APPG vice-chairs Pat McFadden and Dominic Grieve met UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid and Home Office minister Victoria Atkins to discuss changes to the Offensive Weapons Bill, which, once passed, will maintain status quo in continuing to legally safeguard the sale, possession, and use of large kirpans.

The new amendment became necessary as large kirpans, with blades over 50 cm long which are used by the followers during religious ceremonies in gurdwaras as well as for ceremonies involving the traditional Sikh Gatka martial art, would have fallen foul of the new bill on the possession of large blades without the amendment, which has now been agreed, PTI reported.