By IANS
New York : The owner of an upscale private club in Salt Lake City has apologized for turning away a Sikh man because his turban violated its no-hats policy.
Harpreet Singh Multani was denied entry to Club Habits in July and was told that the club’s no-hats policy applied to his turban also.
The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), a Washington based Sikh organisation wrote a letter to the authorities regarding the incident, the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper reported.
Club Habits owner Bill Carter said Tuesday that he had received the letter and his club would issue an apology inviting Multani to visit again.
“We apologize to him . . . through our ignorance we didn’t know there was a religious-type problem with anyone,” he said.
Multani said he and several friends went to the club July 14 and waited in line to get in.
“The lady at the front door, the only thing she said is you cannot have any head coverings and you cannot come in,” he said in an interview Tuesday.
Multani said he found no sign with a dress code posted outside the club or on the club’s website, leaving him wondering if he had been singled out.
In a similar incident, another Sikh youth, Dave Bindra, has approached the US justice department after he was allegedly denied entry into two nightclubs in California because he was wearing a turban last month.
He was apparently told by one of the club managers that it didn’t matter that the turban was a religious headgear.
Meanwhile, Rajbir Singh Datta, spokesman of SALDEF said he was pleased to know that Club Habits had apologised.
His group would send Carter information explaining various types of religious headgears, Datta said.