An employment tribunal has heard that Gurmeal Singh, a Sikh police officer, was “humiliated” by his Greater Manchester Police colleagues when he refused to remove his turban for training and to undergo practices that would breach his faith. PC Singh, who is based at Wythenshawe Police station, near Manchester is claiming £200,000 in compensation from the force after the actions of fellow officers left him suffering panic attacks and high blood pressure causing him to be hospitalised twice – he claims. 

The main incidents include a claim that Pc Singh was “coerced” into walking through a petrol fire, despite telling trainers about a flammable gel he had applied to his beard, which he feared if it was burnt would break the strict beliefs which he had observed since he was 15. Apparently he was also told to remove his turban during a training exercise. When he complained, PC Singh says one sergeant appeared to trivialise the matter, telling him: “This is what you signed up for.” 

The GMP deny racial discrimination but the British Sikh Police Association is backing PC Singh in his legal action.