The UNITED SIKHS legal team led by Mejindarpal
then filed cases against France for violation of religious freedom under the European Convention of Human
Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. These cases were filed on behalf of Sikhs
through the French courts, European Court of Human Rights and then the UN Human Rights Committee
(UNHRC), where they finally won their cases. The UNHRC found that France had violated the human
rights of Bikramjit Singh who was expelled from school for refusing to remove his turban. The UNHRC also
found that France had violated the rights of Shingara Singh and Ranjit Singh by requiring them to remove
their turbans for their ID photographs.
Similarly, in Belgium, Mejindarpal led a legal campaign by UNITED SIKHS against the ban of the Sikh
turban in the GO schools. This legal campaign was successful when the Belgian Supreme Court held that the
GO school that had banned the Sikh turban had violated the religious rights of Sikh boys.
To date, Mejindarpal has responded to civil and human rights issues in many parts of the world including
the UK, France, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, Australia, Ireland, Sweden, Romania, Switzerland, Kashmir, India,
Canada, USA, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and Singapore.
Mejindarpal’s reputation for standing up for civil and human rights is not limited to actions against
national laws and institutions. She has also campaigned for women’s rights within the Sikh community. In
2003, she ran a campaign for women’s right to do seva at Sri Darbar Sahib, Amritsar (the Golden Temple).
A global online petition was started, talks were given on television and radio and at seminars in Amritsar,
Chandigarh, Delhi and Maryland, USA, to raise a voice on this issue.
Thus, as a civil and human rights advocate, Mejindarpal is a role model for protecting the interest of
religious minorities and women.
In addition to legal advocacy, this role-model also organizes media awareness campaigns for UNITED
SIKHS to highlight the plight of human rights victims. She produced a documentary titled ‘Smoking
Gun Recovered’ on the disappearance of the contents of the Sikh reference Library at Darbar Sahib,
Amritsar during the 1984 Indian Army attack on the sanctum sanctorum of the Sikhs. She also produced a
documentary on the killing of 35 Sikhs at Chittisinghpura in Kashmir to highlight the justice denied to the
victims. In 2017, she produced and presented a UNITED SIKHS documentary on the Panjab river water
issue titled ‘Panjab Drowning without Water’.
In 2010, Mejindarpal started a UNITED SIKHS farmer suicides widow pension programme called
‘Rescue A Family’. Today, more than 100 families of the farmers who commit suicide are helped so that
their children remain in school. In the same year, she also started the UNITED SIKHS STARAE scholarship
program for under privileged Siklighar kids of Sultanpuri colony in New Delhi, which was the scene of the
November 1984 massacre of Sikhs.
Mejindarpal has a number of other interests like playing the harmonium, collecting antiques, travelling,
reading and writing and she is an eco-warrior who believes that protection of the environment is the duty
of each and every human being. She also loves the fine arts, but above all, she believes that ‘Seva’ (selfless
service) is a sacred duty every human owes to the Creator. Her email is mejindarpal.kaur@unitedsikhs.org
