Judge Apologizes To Sikh Excluded From Courtroom

A judge in Laurens County, Georgia has written a letter of apology to Tarun Singh Kataria, a Sikh who was denied entry to the court last August under its "no hats" policy. Sunday's Panthic Weekly reported that the court has also formally changed its security policy on religious head coverings to explicitly permit Sikhs wearing turbans into the courthouse. The Sikh American Legal Education and Defense Fund (SALDEF) intervened for Mr. Kataria, obtaining not only an apology from Judge Helen Harper, but a refund of the traffic fine Kataria was coming to court to contest.