A charge of carrying a dangerous weapon was dismissed against a Sikh man arrested in Kern County with a ceremonial dagger in his possession. Sahadur Singh, a Utah truck driver, was traveling through Kern County on Dec. 30 when he was stopped for a traffic violation by California Highway Patrol officers. Singh, a baptized Sikh, had a kirpan, a short dagger used in religious ceremonies, in his truck and the officers arrested him in part on suspicion of carrying a dangerous weapon, according to court documents. That charge and misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest and taking up two or more lanes while driving were dismissed. Singh pleaded no contest to driving without a license and disturbing the peace and was sentenced to three years probation, court records said. Sahadur Singh said the arresting officers kept asking whether he was a terrorist or involved with the Taliban, said Manjit Singh, a representative of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, a non-profit civil rights organization. Intervening on Sahadur Singh’s behalf, the organization sent a letter to the Kern County District Attorney’s office explaining what a kirpan was and that, in similar cases, charges of carrying a dangerous weapon were dropped. Police reports weren’t immediately available, but there was no mention of harassment on the part of officers in court documents. And attorney Stanley Simrin, who represented Sahadur Singh, said his client never told him that officers accused him of being a terrorist. “I think it was a language or a cultural problem,” Simrin said of the incident. An interpreter was present for Sahadur Singh’s court appearances, according to court documents. [http://www.bakersfield.com] The Bakersfield Californian
