New York Court Lifts Kirpan Ban After Sikh Groups Resolve Dispute

Sikh Wire reports that on Friday, a New York state trial court judge lifted the ban he had imposed in May 2010 on the carrying ban of the kirpan, the ceremonial dagger, inside the Gurdwara in Rochester (NY). The ban was originally imposed because of a dispute between two Sikh groups. Later the ban was liberalized so that clergy could carry kirpans. According to Sikh Wire:

After protests by Sikhs in the US and elsewhere against the ban on their religious right to wear the kirpan, the Akal Takht – the supreme spiritual institution of the Sikhs in Amritsar – appointed a seven-member committee in the US to get the kirpan ban removed, and help the two warring parties at the gurdwara resolve differences.