---

Kirpan and kara - Photo by Skielor, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

---

Cases: Sikh men charged with illegal carrying of weapons for wearing the ritual knife known as a kirpan in public.

Cultural test

Legal Insights

Anthropological insights

---

Proposed balancing act: Since the right to religious freedom and the principle of 'positive' secularism - according to which freedom of worship and religious expression must be protected and guaranteed to individuals - are of fundamental importance in the legal system, they should not be sacrificed to public order and security. This is true especially in the absence of evidence of offensiveness in concrete terms of the practice. In fact, in relation to the specific wearing of the kirpan and the Sikh group, there have been not cases of violence or inappropriate use that would justify its prohibition.

---

Bibliographic references

​​Legal Bibliography
Colella, L. (2020). La libertà religiosa tra globalizzazione e nuovi nazionalismi. Brevi note comparative su USA e India. Diritto pubblico comparato ed europeo, 4, ottobre-dicembre 2020.
Introvigne, M. (2017). Kirpan o no? La Cassazione censura la libertà religiosa, ecco perché. ilsussidiario.net, 16 maggio.
Licastro, A. (2017). La «sfida» del kirpan ai «valori occidentali» nelle reazioni della dottrina alla pronunzia della Cassazione penale, Sez. I, 15 maggio 2017, n. 24084. Quaderni di diritto e politica ecclesiastica, 3, dicembre 2017.
Morelli, A. (2017). Il pugnale dei Sikh e il grande equivoco dei “valori occidentali”. In Lacostituzione.info, 17 maggio.
Morelli, A. (2017). “Valori occidentali” e principi costituzionali. Il tema identitario nella giurisprudenza in materia di simboli religiosi. Democrazia e sicurezza, 7(2), 15-33.
Nico, A. M. (2017). Ordine pubblico e libertà di religione in una società multiculturale (Osservazioni a margine di una recente sentenza della Cassazione sul kirpan). Osservatorio costituzionale, 2, 1-7.
Ruggiu, I. (2018). “Spogliare” i migranti. I divieti contro kirpan, burqa, hijab, come eredità coloniale europea. In lacostituzione.info.
 
Anthropological bibliography (recommended reading)
 
Nesbitt, E. (2005). Sikhism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 
In this interesting interdisciplinary work, Eleanor Nesbitt highlights and contextualises key points in the history of Sikhism, so that the historical reasons behind the most characteristic Sikh customs can be understood. His study is geared towards understanding Sikhs in the present day, especially in contexts of migration; for this reason, reading his work is highly recommended.
 
Anthropological bibliography (for further reading)
Bachu, P. (1999). Multiple migrants and multiple diasporas: cultural reproduction and transformation among British Punjabi women in 1990 Britain. In P. Singh & T. Singh Shinder (Eds.), Punjabi Identity in a Global Context (pp. 343-355). Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press.
Ballard, R., & Ballard, C. (1979). The Sikhs: The development of South Asian settlements in Britain. In J. L. Watson (Ed.), Between Two Cultures: Migrants and Minorities in Britain (pp. 21-56). Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Cole, O. W. (2004). Understanding Sikhism. Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press.
Cole, O. W., & Singh, S. (2006). The Sikhs: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. Brighton-Portland: Sussex Academic Press.
McLeod, W. H. (2004). Exploring Sikhism: Aspects of Sikh Identity, Culture, and Thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
McLeod, W. H. (2006). Sikhs and Sikhism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Oberoi, H. (1994). The Construction of Religious Boundaries: Culture, Identity, and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Oberoi, H. (1997). Sikh fundamentalism. In S. Kaviraj (Ed.), Politics in India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.