According to a document, aviation security authority BCAS has allowed Sikh aviation sector personnel to carry kirpan on their person within airport facilities.
The order issued by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) on March 4 prohibiting Sikh aviation sector personnel from carrying kirpan on their person within any Indian airport grounds was criticised by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, a senior Sikh group (SGPC).
Following that, on March 12, the BCAS lifted the restriction.
In the Sikh faith, a curved dagger called a kirpan must be worn next to the body.
The BCAS stated in its March 4 order that a Sikh traveller may carry a Kirpan on his person as long as the blade length does not exceed six inches and the entire length does not exceed nine inches.
The kirpan is permitted while flying within India on Indian planes, according to the report.
As previously noted, this exemption is reserved for Sikh travellers. Furthermore, no airport stakeholder or employee (including Sikhs) working at any terminal, domestic or international, should be permitted to carry Kirpan on their person, it said.
On March 9, SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami wrote to Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, claiming that the March 4 directive violated Sikh rights.
As a result, on March 12, the BCAS issued a correction to the March 4 order.
The line that prevented Sikh personnel from bringing kirpan to any airport was eliminated in the corrigendum.