3 weeks ago
4
Senior Reporter
The State has been ordered to pay $100,000 in compensation to a prison officer who successfully pursued a landmark case over a T&T Prison Service policy barring officers from keeping beards.
In February last year, High Court Judge Margaret Mohammed upheld a lawsuit from Arshad Singh, who claimed he was barred from being promoted for keeping a beard as part of his religious beliefs as a Muslim.
The compensation owed to him was assessed by High Court Master Rishma Ramrattan last week.
According to the evidence, Singh admitted that he had previously been allowed to keep a short beard for security reasons, but claimed that he wrote to the Prison Service seeking permission after it grew longer when he went to perform Hajj in Saudi Arabia.
Singh was due to be promoted to the rank of Prison Officer II but was removed from a promotion ceremony in September 2022 after then-acting prisons commissioner Deopersad Ramoutar saw his beard and questioned him about it.
Singh, who was represented by attorneys Imran Khan and Sunil Gopaul-Gosine, filed two cases over what transpired and obtained an injunction blocking disciplinary action for his beard until the cases are determined.
One case challenged his failed promotion, while the case before Justice Mohammed contended that the beard policy breached Singh’s constitutional right to freedom of conscience, religious belief, and observance.
Several colleagues who had similar experiences with the policy also filed cases, which were subsequently upheld, but Singh’s was the first.
At the end of the trial before Justice Mohammed, Ramoutar’s legal team conceded that his decision to block Singh’s promotion was unreasonable.
Singh presented the expert evidence of Maulana Abdul Salam of Darul Uloom T&T, who testified that keeping a beard and allowing it to grow is essential for Muslim men.
In defence of the case, State attorneys claimed that the policy, found in General Orders for the service, is intended to ensure uniformity, instil discipline, and maintain tidiness and cleanliness.
Ramoutar admitted that some officers were given exemptions on medical grounds and for security reasons.
In her judgment, Justice Mohammed stated that Ramoutar’s justification for the policy was undermined by the exemptions granted and a lack of evidence to justify it.
Justice Mohammed said, “However, those policies and procedures cannot limit or restrict any prison officer, including the Claimant’s, guaranteed right to practise and observe one’s religion and belief, as the Constitution is the supreme law in T&T.”
In deciding on the appropriate compensation, Master Ramrattan ordered $100,000 in vindicatory damages for breach of his constitutional rights.
Singh was initially seeking compensation for being bypassed for promotion, but that was not considered by Master Ramrattan, as he was promoted after the case was upheld by Justice Mohammed.
English (US) ·